Knife Reform Bill Passes Texas Legislature: On to Governor Abbott

ammoland ^ | 27 May, 2017 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The Texas Legislature has passed significant knife law reform by large margins. The bill is on the way to Governor Abbott, and will likely be signed into law. The bill removes bowie knives, dirks, throwing knives, daggers, swords and spears from the list of “illegal knives”.

H.B. 1935 in the House with a vote of 131 to 1. The Senate vote has not yet been reported. In the last legislature a similar bill was approved by the Senate unanimously. The ban on knives was first passed in 1871.In 1871, the reconstruction government in Texas passed the bill to forbid the carry of bowie knives and other arms that could be useful for self defense. The current statute is directly derived from that law. Here is the original verbiage. From guncite.com:

Any person carrying on or about his person, saddle, or in his saddle-bags, any pistol, dirk, dagger, sling-shot, sword-cane, spear, brass knuckles, bowie knife, or any other kind of knife, manufactured or sold, for the purpose of offense or defense, unless he has reasonable grounds for fearing an unlawful attack on his person, and that such ground of attack shall be immediate and pressing; or unless having or carrying the same on or about his person for the lawful defense of the State, as a militiaman in actual service, or as a peace officer or policeman, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor….

The reconstruction government had to change the Texas Constitution to pass the law.

The current restrictions on knives in Texas consists of the following list. People are forbidden from carrying these knives across most of the state. From state.tx.us, edited for ease of reading:

(6)

Illegal knife” means a:

[marktwain]

Once rights are taken away, it is very hard to get them back. The right to bear arms was taken from Texas residents 145 years ago by the Reconstruction government. The same government had to rewrite the Texas constitution to do it.

Before that, The Texas Supreme Court found that even slaves had a right to arms.

Now, 145 years later, Texans are reclaiming their rights.

[jagusafr]

Slight detour, but the max length of knife allowed for carry in Texas is 5 (or 5 1/2) inches. San Antonio city Council passed an ordinance that banned knives from 2 1/2 inches to 5 inches, specifically so they would have something to roust out gangbangers on. I told an SA cop that I carry a 4 inch blade and he said, “oh, we wouldn’t hassle YOU about that…”

Disturbing.

[Pollster1]

Before that, The Texas Supreme Court found that even slaves had a right to arms.

That's where I'd like to be today. "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" means exactly what it says. When a felon is released from prison, his rights to carry any weapon should be restored. If a criminal is too dangerous to be permitted to have a knife/gun, that person should have been sentenced to more time in prison. If a mentally ill person is too dangerous to be permitted to have a weapon, that person is too dangerous to be outside an institution.

The process for buying a gun (for those not institutionalized) should be the same as the process for buying an ice pick, axe, chainsaw, or just about anything else - you go to a store and buy what you want.

[marktwain]

The local knife laws in Texas were eliminated two years ago when the legislature passed knife law preemption for the state:

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2015/05/tx-knife-preemption-to-governor-abbott.html

It was signed by Governor Abbott on June 17, 2015.

https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/HB905/2015