HELP! Texas knife laws!

D

Dave V.

Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
30
I have just moved from Ca. to Texas, and would REALLY like someone to explain Texas knife laws to me. My main question is about carrying concealed. I have a friend from another site that tells me a fixed blade UNDER 3" is OK in Texas to carry concealed, 5 1/2" exposed. So, what is absolutely LEGAL to carry here either as a neck knife,or a knife, in a sheath, attached to my belt covered? I DO NOT want to run into ANY problems with the Law.
 
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You can thank knife rights, pretty much anything with a blade under 5.5in you're good to go no matter how you carry it. There were some city ordinances that were more cumbersome but KR took care of that.
 
Not just anything with a blade under 5.5" --- MUST be SINGLE edged as well. No daggers or dirks, and by Texas case law, as little as 1/2" of sharpened swedge can be considered double edged. Balisongs and switchblades are also legal for public carry, as long as they meet the length and edge requirements. There is no differentiation between open and concealed carry , re: knives. There is only legal and illegal for public carry.

KR tried to get the edge/length limitations removed,and it almost happened, until political egos got in the way. Maybe next session.

also you might want to remove the icon - that one is restricted for use in the Whine and Cheese forum only.
 
Hey guys, this my second time posting to a thread. Trying to get in on the discussion. What are y'all's thoughts on a timeline for when and if the knife laws concerning double edged blades such as daggers will become legal? I just bought a concealed agent 2nd Gen stinger knife with shoulder strap and can't wear it out except in my yard or pickup. Some of these laws are really ridiculous in my opinion.
 
The absolute earliest it will happen is the Legislative session in 2017.

If it does not happen then, well, add 2 years to 2019.

Knife Rights came close this past session to getting it done, but close only counts with horse shoes, hand grenades and thermo-nuclear devices.

Every session is both different and the same. Next session, it may be a piece of cake or it may be a political football. A lot will depend on everything else that happens over the next 2 years - who get elected/re-elected, i.e., President, Governor, Lt Gov, House and Senate members, events that occur between now and then. Lots of uncontrollable, unknowable and unpredictable events/situations.

It took 2 tries to get the pre-emption bill passed. It took 5 or 6 sessions to get concealed carry passed. Took a couple of sessions to get open carry passed after a few years of CC. This session was the first major attempt at significant knife law reform in Texas since Reconstruction. Politicians are like mules - stubborn, set in their ways and sometimes you gotta hit'em with a 2x4 to get their attention. Patience wins out.
 
zzyzzogeton, thanks for the information. I really appreciate it. This might sound like a dumb question but how can I keep up with all the law proposal and or changes to the law concerning knives?
 
will83 said:
zzyzzogeton, thanks for the information. I really appreciate it. This might sound like a dumb question but how can I keep up with all the law proposal and or changes to the law concerning knives?
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As convoluted as Texas laws may seem, the process is rather simple.

Unlike other states, Texas' legislature only meets every other year for 5 months. New law proposals are filed to be considered from the November before the session starts until about February of the session. If a bill passes through both House and Senate before the session ends and does not get vetoed by the Governor, it becomes law on its specified effective date. There are a lot of picky details, but that's it in a nutshell.

There won't be anything proposed until about November 2016, when legislators start filing bills for the 2017 session, which will run from Jan to May.

Once the session starts, progess of individual bills can be watched via the legislature web site. Any knife bill that has Knife Rights' support/endorsement/lobby efforts will be announced here so we'll know which bills to follow.
 
It should be mentioned that gun related bills (OC, campus carry) really dominated the "weapons related" political time last session. There was a bill to more or less remove all the restrictions on carry and only leave statutes for the criminal use of a knife (as is an actual criminal act, like stabbing someone) but it didn't make it past the Senate. The whole open carry debate really sucked up all the energy (and common sense) and resulted in only one knife bill making it through. It is nice they passed a preemption on local laws, but it only helped people in a handful of places (and I still wouldn't recommend visiting the armpits of the state known as San Antonio and Corpus!).
 
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