Swordlady said:And if I'm not mistaken, the maximum allowed blade length for folding knives is 3", at least in my state.
It varies. In Atlanta the limit is 2", but someone recently killed one mugger and wounded another with such a blade. (This is the story referred to here, though the story linked there doesn't mention the 2" limit. The fact is related in the Wall Street Journal article referred to in the first link.) See www.packing.org for some state-by-state info. on knife lengths. I believe that 4" is pretty common.
As to assisted-open knives...I am always somewhat suspicious. I have a few of them. Sometimes they open when they shouldn't. I am loathe to rely on a mechanical device...yet, some are very simple and seem to be reliable, like the Waverider feature. A swicthblade is quick, but tends to be flimsy and fails easily. There's no winning! A fixed blade is best, when feasible.