Knife Rights' Texas "Illegal Knife" Repeal Bill Passed Unanimously by Committee

Critter

Critter

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[Post in General approved by Spark]

Knife Rights’ bipartisan Texas Knife Law Reform Bill, HB 1935, that would repeal the ban on ALL “illegal knives” in Texas statutes, has passed out of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee by a unanimous vote and is now headed to the Calendars Committee. HB 790, the other knife law reform bill that only repeals the ban on daggers, also passed out of the Committee.

Thanks to everyone who called or emailed the Committee Members. Your calls and emails make a difference.

As soon as HB 1935 is scheduled for a floor vote, we’ll let you know to call or email your Representative.

Sponsored by Rep. John Frullo with co-sponsor Rep. Harold Dutton, HB 1935 would complete Knife Rights’ efforts to bring knife freedom to Texas by removing entirely the definition of “illegal knife” in Section 46.01(6) of the Penal Code. This includes the prohibition on double edge blades, Bowie knives and the 5.5-inch carry limit.

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Whitmire, Senate Dean, was the bugaboo last session. Let's hope he's not the committee chair this session, or that he's had a change of heart.
 
Here's hoping the bill gets sent to a different committee, then.

Actually, last session (2015) the bill passed his committee late one evening. By the next morning it was pulled. Seems Whitmire had some words with Dutton, or something, so he killed the bill. Not my favorite senator, to say the least...for many reasons.
 
I have to admit, I'm surprised they decided to extend the repeal to everything under the ban on illegal knives, including swords and spears. I mean D/E blades, bowie knives and the 5.5 blade length limit is one thing, but despite being so gun friendly, we've never been big on medieval weaponry. I don't have anything against people open carrying swords, daggers and spears, when the bill goes into effect, that will be their right, but the idea of it is kind of weird to me. It is kind of nice though because there were a lot of goodies I wanted to buy and review up until this point, but wouldn't because they were expensive and were designed to be used and carried regularly, and not simply put in a storage case and kept in a closet or trunk. Well, hopefully this bill gets the seal of approval. I don't necessarily live for the day I can openly carry all these items on me in public, and for the record, I don't plan to, but I always thought our ban on certain non ballistic weapons was kind of pointless. There are plenty of legal to own variations of their illegal to own counterparts that can do just as much damage. I guess we'll just have to wait till September to see how this all pans out.
 
Last day of this session is 29 May. The bill still has to get full House approval, then sent to the Senate for their committee and full Senate approval. There's still plenty of time for that, but no time to linger long at any step. If it doesn't make it this session, then next session begins in Jan 2019.

As for open carry of swords, spears, daggers, etc., anyone can do that now with long guns; and even handguns with a license. But we don't see that much, do we? Don't think we'll see many swords nor spears, either. To me it's more about recovering the freedom than about any specific desire 'show off my stuff'. ;^>
 
From what Critter told us back when HB3884 died last session, the tiff between Dutton and Whitmire was over a completely different bill. As mentioned above, last session's bill actually made it through the Senate committee it was assigned to, then sat around for a few days before being placed on the L&C calendar (fast track calendar) for a vote but then it was pulled by Whitmire at the last minute.

22 - although the repeal has the effect of allowing the carry of swords, etc that are currently illegal to pack in public, the REAL effect behind the change is that someone actually USING their larger knives will not have to stop and remove them before "going to town", as is usually my situation.

I carry 7" to 12" (sometimes longer) blades around the farm as I'm working and have to leave them behind if I have to run into town to get "stuff". I also like to carry double edged blades when doing certain tasks as I have a second sharp edge available when one edge becomes dull while still only packing the one knife, allowing me to carry a DIFFERENT 2nd fixed blade.

Also, by eliminating the "bowie knife" (yes, Texas law has "bowie" in lower case), it removes ambiguity from situations, since Texas law does not define what constitutes a "bowie knife". Some folks have been accused of carrying a "bowie knife" simply because it had a guard and/or a clip point. One judge stated, "I can't describe a bowie knife, but I know one when I see it.", leaving things open to individual interpretation.

And as far as the open carry of handguns or rifles is concerned, I'm all for it. I call those folks "bait". Bad guys are gonna go for the obvious threats to their well being when they are "doing wrong". When they try to take out the "bait", that just identifies the targets for concealed carry folks. :D
 
This is going to be good news. I've got a friend down in Texas, and with this news he might be able to get himself a Becker in the coming months.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
From what Critter told us back when HB3884 died last session, the tiff between Dutton and Whitmire was over a completely different bill. As mentioned above, last session's bill actually made it through the Senate committee it was assigned to, then sat around for a few days before being placed on the L&C calendar (fast track calendar) for a vote but then it was pulled by Whitmire at the last minute.

:D
Click to expand...

Typical arrogant Whitmire. Got is panties in a twist, so "No soup for you!" reaction.

Hope we don't encounter that again this year.
 
It seems there was a stabbing at UT which was committed by a guy who used.... wait for it..... a "large bowie style hunting knife". There were four victims, one of which died from their wounds. Am I being pessimistic in feeling that this may have very well ruined this bill's chances ? UT isn't far from the state capitol, and since things like this affect locals the hardest, I'm pretty sure that goes for committee members who decide the outcome of this proposed bill. I don't know how these things work, but I'd like to think those lobbying for knife rights have something up their sleeve to counter the inevitable use of this incident as justification to strike this bill down. Talk about a bad apple spoiling it for the bunch.......
 
Looks like HB 1935 has been voted favorably as substituted from the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.

It looks like CSHB 1935 added in some language involving carrying knives on school campuses.

The real obstacle is the Senate Committee.
 
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