The sub 5.5" city ordinances, to my knowledge are ::
San Antonio - No lock-blades UNDER 5.5 inches allowed. Since Texas law makes ANY blade OVER 5.5 inches long, the ordinance effectively makes all locking blade knives illegal in SA.
Dallas - 4.5 inch maximum, last I heard in 2012, any type of blade.
Corpus Christi - 3 inches max. Edit - 3 inch limit is for folders. per post further down, ALL fixed blades, regardless of length, are prohibited in Corpus.
I once saw the name of a 4th town that I had never heard of and can't remember as having a length limit less than 5.5 inches.
Back in 2009, the AKTI (American Knife and Tool Institute) worked on auto-knife vs switchblade legislation...
Governor Perry signed AKTI introduced legislation Texas HB 4456 on Thursday, June 18, 2009. It was law effective September 1, 2009.
AKTI extends heartfelt thanks to….
Senator Deuell and Representative Driver for their support by introducing bills in the Texas Senate (TX S 2411) and House of Representatives (HB 4456). The Texas legislature unanimously supported AKTI’s effort to clarify Texas knife statutes and assure that law-abiding individuals were not wrongly accused of possessing switchblades. AKTI’s advocacy representative did an outstanding job of spearheading the efforts from initiation to signing.
Currently, in the 2013 legislature, there are 3 knife related bills working their way through the system. HB936 and HB1299.
From the Texas Knife Rights on blogspot:::
HB936 by Rep. Harold Dutton would decriminalize the possession, manufacture, transfer, repair, or sale of switchblade knives in Texas by amending Sections 46.05 (a)(d)(e) of the Penal Code. At the same time, it would reaffirm that switchblade knives could not be brought into the very same areas defined as "no go" areas for CHL holders with weapons.
and
HB1299 by Rep. Jonathan Stickland is a pre-emption law; it would forbid cities, towns, and Counties from writing anti-knife laws more restrictive than State of Texas knife laws. Again, this normalizes knife laws, and makes them more like gun laws in Texas. For example, Travis County does not get to ban AR-15s, though I'm sure some of the denizens there would like to.
HB1862 First reference I've seen is below...
I heard last week that HB936 was stalled in committee and may not survive. HB1299 had a committee hearing Mar 13 - haven't seen any reports on status changes.
From kniferights.org --
March 15, 2013: Knife Rights Director of Legislative Affairs Todd Rathner lobbied and testified in support of House Bill HB1299 this week in Austin, Texas. HB1299, sponsored by Representative Jonathan Stickland, would enact Knife Law Preemption in Texas. Write or Call the committee members today and urge them to recommend passage of HB1299. Click here for links to the Committee members.
While in Austin, Todd also worked on HB1862, which would repeal the irrational and antiquated Texas ban on switchblades. HB1862 is sponsored by Rep. Harold V. Dutton, Jr., who Chairs the Urban Affairs Committee that heard HB1299. That bill has been assigned to the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, but has not yet been calendared for a hearing. You can help by Writing or Calling Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chairman Rep. Abel Herrero and ask him to schedule a hearing on HB1862.
When you write or call, just keep it short and simple, as noted above.
That's the latest on "Modifications in progress" to Texas knife laws. If these gothrough, maybe next session we can work on getting rid of the "dirk, dagger, pognaird or bowie knife" reconstruction era prohibitions.
- I thought the 3 inch limit was for lock backs only in CC. That means I've been illegal every time I've been there since that got passed.
seeing any signs on the outskirts of CC / SA / Big D saying "check your knives at the city limits signs".