Is Kershaw's Speed Safe legal in Texas?

L

lonestarwings

Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
8
Hi, I'm sure this is asked often, but I can't use the search function so I figured I'd ask again.

I live in Texas, Austin to be exact, and am "considering" the purchase of a Kershaw Zero Tolerance knife with the speed safe assisted opening feature. It is a 3.25" bladed folding knife with a drop-point type design.

Is this knife legal to own and carry in Texas, or might I run into potential legal problems if I were to be arrested while carrying one (certainly not planning on getting arrested, but certainly don't want to make it worse if I ever were to be).

Thanks!
 
Shouldn't be a problem, but hopefully someone will chime in, you'd think Texas would have lenient knife laws too.
 
Hopefully 2brothers will chime in here soon. He's in Texas, and owns a whole boatload of speedsafe Kershaws!
 
Well, looks like they're illegal in texas :jerkit:

Not because the law says so, but because of a ruling by an all-female appellate court in 2007.

http://www.akti.org/legislation/tx-11-08notice.html

The actual law simply says that the following are prohibited:
A knife that:
(A) opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device located on the handle; or
(B) opens or releases a blade from the handle or sheath by the force of gravity or by the application of centrifugal force.

But because of that case, they decided that assisted opening somehow meets that criteria? Oh well! That's frustrating. I can carry a 16 round .40 caliber handgun on my belt but not an AO knife? BS.
 
I carry a Benchmade assisted opener in Austin all the time. It is legal in Texas, but San Antonio has its own knife laws that are very strict. Do not get pulled over in San Antonio with it.
 
krakoa said:
That was already overturned, or whatever the proper legal term is, and I can assure you they are perfectly legal here, even if you are in the most liberal city in the state :P. They clarified or re-defined the term 'switchblade' so as not to cause any confusion. Not sure how to make links work here, but you can see for yourself here: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HB4456
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Sorry to chime in on this late, but I am pretty sure they are illegal in San Antonio. They have some pretty restrictive knife laws, i.e. no locking folders, etc.

To the OP:check the codes for cities where you intend to travel. A few miles of highway makes a lot of difference in the laws down here. A blade that is legal in Kyle or Austin is not necessarily legal in San Antone or Houston, etc.
 
dougo83 said:
Sorry to chime in on this late, but I am pretty sure they are illegal in San Antonio. They have some pretty restrictive knife laws, i.e. no locking folders, etc.

To the OP:check the codes for cities where you intend to travel. A few miles of highway makes a lot of difference in the laws down here. A blade that is legal in Kyle or Austin is not necessarily legal in San Antone or Houston, etc.
Click to expand...
You might be right, but I haven't read anything in the Texas papers about people being arrested for knife violations in Texas during the trips that I made there over the course of a few years. My GF was born in Corpus Christi. We visited her birthplace and looked around for retirement property to purchase for the future. I was in Corpus Christi, Robstown, Kingville, San Antonio, Ingleside, Port Aransas, Aransas Pass and Brownsville. I carried my 4" Cold Steel "Voyager" the entire time (pocket clip removed, deep in right front pocket of my jeans, completely concealed) and never had a problem. The only times that I didn't carry it during these trips was during air travel (obviously!:D) and after we parked the car in Brownsville and hoofed it across the border into Matamoros, Mexico. Not sure of Mexican weapons laws (I heard that they were very strict and vigorously enforced against Americans), I locked the "Voyager" in the trunk of the rental car and went in unarmed.
 
TOM1960 said:
You might be right, but I haven't read anything in the Texas papers about people being arrested for knife violations in Texas during the trips that I made there over the course of a few years. My GF was born in Corpus Christi. We visited her birthplace and looked around for retirement property to purchase for the future. I was in Corpus Christi, Robstown, Kingville, San Antonio, Ingleside, Port Aransas, Aransas Pass and Brownsville. I carried my 4" Cold Steel "Voyager" the entire time (pocket clip removed, deep in right front pocket of my jeans, completely concealed) and never had a problem. The only times that I didn't carry it during these trips was during air travel (obviously!:D) and after we parked the car in Brownsville and hoofed it across the border into Matamoros, Mexico. Not sure of Mexican weapons laws (I heard that they were very strict and vigorously enforced against Americans), I locked the "Voyager" in the trunk of the rental car and went in unarmed.
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The knife laws in TX were basically set up to allow cops to tag more stuff on to existing criminal charges. The average person need not worry, but some cops forget that they are allowed some discretion and will charge you if they find it on a routine stop of some sort.
 
dougo83 said:
Sorry to chime in on this late, but I am pretty sure they are illegal in San Antonio. They have some pretty restrictive knife laws, i.e. no locking folders, etc.

To the OP:check the codes for cities where you intend to travel. A few miles of highway makes a lot of difference in the laws down here. A blade that is legal in Kyle or Austin is not necessarily legal in San Antone or Houston, etc.
Click to expand...

locking folders are illegal to carry in san antonio. not illegal to own or have in your vehicle.
 
Buckles said:
locking folders are illegal to carry in san antonio. not illegal to own or have in your vehicle.
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Since the OP was about carrying, I considered mentioning that to be irrelevant. Thanks though.

and lonestarwings, I just saw that you were in atx. If you are outside of downtown, you are good to go from my experience. I carried a Scallion for a while when I worked on 6th as a bouncer and had a local LEO tell me I better "lose" it or leave it in the truck next time. Up in the Four Points area where I currently live or in Lago Vista/Jonestown/Cedar Park where I work, the cops aren't too concerned with it. Of course, YMMV.
 
dougo83 said:
Since the OP was about carrying, I considered mentioning that to be irrelevant. Thanks though.

and lonestarwings, I just saw that you were in atx. If you are outside of downtown, you are good to go from my experience. I carried a Scallion for a while when I worked on 6th as a bouncer and had a local LEO tell me I better "lose" it or leave it in the truck next time. Up in the Four Points area where I currently live or in Lago Vista/Jonestown/Cedar Park where I work, the cops aren't too concerned with it. Of course, YMMV.
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I actually have a friend in the APD who told me my knife was illegal, which is what spurred me to do this research. I forwarded to him the appropriate documents and advised him of AO's current status as legal knives. I'm not aware of any Austin city ordinance which prohibits carriage of a knife in a more restrictive way than the state laws. So yeah, a year ago, they could have hypothetically arrested you for an AO knife, but since Perry signed that legislation, that's not the case in the state of Texas unless a city ordinance, like San Antonio's, says differently.
 
lonestarwings said:
I actually have a friend in the APD who told me my knife was illegal, which is what spurred me to do this research. I forwarded to him the appropriate documents and advised him of AO's current status as legal knives. I'm not aware of any Austin city ordinance which prohibits carriage of a knife in a more restrictive way than the state laws. So yeah, a year ago, they could have hypothetically arrested you for an AO knife, but since Perry signed that legislation, that's not the case in the state of Texas unless a city ordinance, like San Antonio's, says differently.
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It's not ATX city ordinance per se. Some Austin cops, like all cops I assume, think the "know" the law when they really don't. So...you may end up ok, but you may still be charged...food for thought.
 
dougo83 said:
Sorry to chime in on this late, but I am pretty sure they are illegal in San Antonio. They have some pretty restrictive knife laws, i.e. no locking folders, etc.

To the OP:check the codes for cities where you intend to travel. A few miles of highway makes a lot of difference in the laws down here. A blade that is legal in Kyle or Austin is not necessarily legal in San Antone or Houston, etc.
Click to expand...

I dont think any of the city codes in SA are enforced unless you screw up and the cops are looking to tack other charges on. The big law is 5.5 inches of blade. Stay in that realm and you'll be fine. I live there. I carry a 5 inch fixed in plain view on my belt all the time.
 
dougo83 said:
Since the OP was about carrying, I considered mentioning that to be irrelevant. Thanks though.

and lonestarwings, I just saw that you were in atx. If you are outside of downtown, you are good to go from my experience. I carried a Scallion for a while when I worked on 6th as a bouncer and had a local LEO tell me I better "lose" it or leave it in the truck next time. Up in the Four Points area where I currently live or in Lago Vista/Jonestown/Cedar Park where I work, the cops aren't too concerned with it. Of course, YMMV.
Click to expand...

The reason for the LEO telling you to lose the scallion (as little as it is) is that people and even off duty LEO's aren't supposed to have any sort of item that could be a weapon on a licensed premise. A bar or club has a liquor permit and a beer license and thus any licensed facility (for alcoholic beverages at least) can't have weapons carried in. Now the owner or manager is allowed to carry in order to protect what is his, but any patrons or persons entering are not allowed (or supposed) to carry.

In Texas, we can have "more protection" than what the US government gives us, thus we have our own state laws and city ordinance laws. So as an example:

Let's say US says 6" is the legal blade length (made up number)
Then we as Texas can say "no, 5.5" blade length" (it's less than the US, but not above it)
Again, it can be lowered by the city to anything below 5.5, but not above it....savvy?

So traveling between cities you can walk around at rest stops and anything along the way with a 5.5" blade, but once you enter a city, it's their ball game. Once I become a Peace Officer (this May :thumbup:) I won't be a hardass about knives unless the person is obviously up to something ;)

Now ask me 5 years from now how I feel about knives and we'll see how I am after possibly being stabbed or shot on a routine basis :foot:
 
J's Knives-N-More said:
Now ask me 5 years from now how I feel about knives and we'll see how I am after possibly being stabbed or shot on a routine basis :foot:
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I know you were joking but I have to chime in....

just because you get shot does not equal all guns are bad....

just because you get stabbed on a daily basis by the criminal element does not equal all knives are bad....

go after the person commiting the crime not the object that was used in the crime...this generally works better....

I have 13 years of LEO experience..

sorry not trying to call you out...I just am strongly opinionated about some jokes especially firearm and knife ones...
 
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