Texas House Bill 1935 Tracking Thread

First, it the bill has not yet been signed by the Governor. He has until the 24th, I believe, to sign it, veto it, or let it become law w/o signing it. He is expected to sign it.

In a nutshell, the term "illegal knife" will go away. Daggers, dirks, poniards and bowie knives will no longer be prohibited for carry in public. No more differentiation between single edge or double edge. A knife will be a knife. Period.

The 5.5" length limit for public carry will be history. Swords will be legal to carry in public. Although why, except for historical reenactments, one would want to is beyond me, from a PRACTICAL aspect. I've carried swords. They can be a pain in the butt.

An amendment was added to the final bill before it was initially passed by the House that creates a "new" category of knives, called "location-restricted knives".

Location-restricted knives will be any knife with a blade longer than 5.5". The restriction part is based on where these longer blades will not be allowed to be carried.

These are::
- high school/university/professional sporting event
- Schools,
- universities,
- churches, synagogue or established place or worship,
- mental institutions,
- 51% establishments,
- correctional facilities,
- amusement parks,
- hospitals and nursing facilities (unless prior permission obtained).

This amendment addition was a response to the stabbing on UT-Austin's campus just 2 or 3 days before the House vote.

Our Knife Rights lobbyist, Todd, worked like hell to salvage the bill. Without the amendment, it is doubtful the bill would have passed.

That's it.
 
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zzyzzogeton said:
Swords will be legal to carry in public. Although why, except for historical reenactments, one would want to is beyond me, from a PRACTICAL aspect. I've carried swords. They can be a pain in the butt.
Click to expand...

I've been contemplating how swords and spears are going to be looked at/dealt with if this comes through as well. I own four Cold Steel sword canes and I have to admit, it's a bit upsetting that Cold Steel's sword canes are amongst the most expensive of their walking stick collection, but due to current laws, I have to keep them at home and in my car, I mean they function just fine as mobility aids, and can be devastating if used for self defense purposes. Same goes for spears, which are really just hiking staffs topped with edged weapons. If you live in a rural area, I wouldn't see a problem with it, specially if you live in an area that has a lot of feral pigs or other dangerous wild animals (swords and spears are often used as back up weapons for hog hunting here in TX). I live in the suburbs but often go backpacking thru some semi rural parts. I often walk around town with my Ten Shin and Blackthorn Staff and have so far only had two problems with local PD, both using the excuse that they wanted to ensure my stick did was not a sword or spear, which I'm guessing will no longer be an applicable excuse if this bill gets signed.

I could be wrong, but I think that if people do decide to open carry swords and spears if this bill passes, they will be treated just like those who open carry firearms, yes they are operating within the parameters of the law, but if someone calls the police they will still respond to the call and check it out because they got the call and have a job to do.
 
I put sword canes in a different category, mentally, than "other swords". I occasionally need a cane, and I have every intention of converting one of my 1908 Brazilian Mauser bayonets into a sword cane.

When I mention carrying a sword, I am referring to the"Other swords". Katanas, sabers, artillery short swords, faschinenmesser, Conan's broadsword, that kind of thing.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
First, it the bill has not yet been signed by the Governor. He has until the 24th, I believe, to sign it, veto it, or let it become law w/o signing it. He is expected to sign it.

In a nutshell, the term "illegal knife" will go away. Daggers, dirks, poniards and bowie knives will no longer be prohibited for carry in public. No more differentiation between single edge or double edge. A knife will be a knife. Period.

The 5.5" length limit for public carry will be history.
Click to expand...

That's awesome. I've got a friend down in Texas who'll be looking forward to finally being able to buy and carry a bowie knife legally.

Swords will be legal to carry in public. Although why, except for historical reenactments, one would want to is beyond me, from a PRACTICAL aspect. I've carried swords. They can be a pain in the butt.
Click to expand...

Even an 18" machete can be a pain in the butt.

An amendment was added to the final bill before it was initially passed by the House that creates a "new" category of knives, called "location-restricted knives".

Location-restricted knives will be any knife with a blade longer than 5.5". The restriction part is based on where these longer blades will not be allowed to be carried.

These are::
- high school/university/professional sporting event
- Schools,
- universities,
- churches, synagogue or established place or worship,
- mental institutions,
- 51% establishments,
- correctional facilities,
- amusement parks,
- hospitals and nursing facilities (unless prior permission obtained).

This amendment addition was a response to the stabbing on UT-Austin's campus just 2 or 3 days before the House vote.

Our Knife Rights lobbyist, Todd, worked like hell to salvage the bill. Without the amendment, it is doubtful the bill would have passed.

That's it.
Click to expand...

Which is often seen with concealed firearms as well, until such restrictions can be effectively removed in a few years.
 
As we were in Washington, D.C. yesterday lobbying on our Knife Owners’ Protection Act including repeal of the Federal Switchblade Act we received the welcome news that Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law Knife Rights’ bipartisan Texas Knife Law Reform Bill, HB 1935, that repeals all “illegal knives” in Texas statute.

We must once again express our gratitude to our House sponsors, Primary Author, Rep. Frullo, Joint Authors, Reps. Dutton, Kuempel, Moody and Springer and Coauthors, Reps. Canales and Lambert as well as our Senate sponsor, Sen. John Whitmire. Under the most difficult circumstances they stood tall for Texas and freedom and got this bill done. Thanks also to all of you who called and emailed in support.

HB 1935 eliminates daggers, dirks, stilettos, poniards, swords, spears and most notably, Bowie knives, completely from Texas statute, effectively allowing them to be carried anywhere in the state.

In order to get the bill moved after the tragic UT stabbing just days before the House vote, a minor amendment was added to stipulate that knives with blades over 5 1/2 inches are now defined as “location restricted” knives. These knives may be carried throughout the state except in a narrow list of places such as schools, colleges, correctional facilities, houses of worship, and bars that derive more than 51% of their income from alcohol sales. Minors are also restricted as to when they can carry these knives.

WARNING: the new law does not go into effect until September 1, 2017. Until then, existing restrictions on “illegal knives” remain in pace.

In 2013 Knife Rights’ repeal of Texas’ switchblade ban was enacted. In 2015 we got Knife Law Preemption enacted, removing all local knife ordinances more restrictive than Texas state law. Now in 2017 we have removed all of the “illegal knives” in Texas law, finally allowing Texans the right to carry a Bowie knife. But, we are not yet finished. We will be back in two years to see about striking those last remaining minor knife restrictions in Texas. We won’t stop until Texas is a free as everyone thinks Texas is.

This is a perfect example of why your support is so important. Otherwise, there’s no way we could have afforded for Todd to spend nearly a month in total in Austin shepherding this bill through the legislature under the most trying of circumstances. Your support is critical!


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Thanks for everything you have done. I know besides myself, a lot of my friends are happy yhis bill made it through. Finally will be able to start carrying some of my fixed blades that I have. Keep up the awesome work and hope all the bills y'all are working on make it through in their respective states.
 
Very pleased with this legislation and LTC legislation that passed and signed by Governor Abbott. Contrary to what the media reports, the vast majority of law enforcement officers in Texas support this legislation. It's only political appointees (Chiefs) and their management staff that get the media coverage
 
So this goes into effect today?

I can finally, gleefully skip down the sidewalk with my Battle Mistress slapping my leg?
 
Tested this out a few times... Walked right past a few officers on separate occasions with a 9"+ blade length fixed blade and not a shit was given. :)
 
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