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In pretty much every state, it's not illegal to carry lockpicks, just illegal to pick locks you don't have permission from the lock's owner to pick.

There are probably exceptions, but this holds true in at least California and Florida. Also, ianal, so I could be wrong.

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This is the law in Arizona:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/1...

The key here is intent. As in, can a cop convince a judge you intended to commit or aid a burglary.

When I got my set some years ago I was in New York, and you had to show that they were legitimate tools for your job in order to buy them. (They were, mostly.)

It's a crapshoot though. Definitely look it up for each location. A lot of state laws include verbiage like "with the intent to commit a crime", while others word it such that possessing lock picks is the proof of intent, and where I am, there is no statewide law.

The relevant sections of the California Penal Code:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen...

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