Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 433
A. There are no longer illegal knives
The 2017 Texas Legislature worked to fully deregulate knives.
This included the 2013 legislature’s action to decriminalize
switchblades and the 2015 legislature’s prohibition on local knife
laws. As of 2017, the only types of knives that are restricted are
“location-restricted” knives. A location-restricted knife is a knife
with a blade length over 5½ inches. See Tex. Penal Code § 46.01(6).
These types of knives are prohibited in certain prohibited places.
As long as you are 21 years of age or older and not carrying one
of these knives in a prohibited place, they are perfectly legal to
own and carry anywhere else. See Chapter 14 for a list of the
prohibited places under Texas Penal Code Section 46.03.
B. “Knuckles” no longer prohibited
With all knives decriminalized and legal to carry, the 86th Texas
Legislature turned its attention to knuckles and clubs. For over a
century, knuckles were illegal to purchase, possess, or carry. For just
as long, people had been trying to find a way around the law. This
issue finally got the attention of the Texas Legislature when a selfdefense tool specifically marketed to women got an unsuspecting
and otherwise law-abiding citizen arrested. The “knuckles” in
this instance was a cat-shaped keychain where the user’s fingers
held the keychain through the cat’s eyes, and the cat’s ears were
shaped into sharp lancets. Since far more lethal weapons can be
lawfully purchased, possessed, and carried, it seemed illogical
that a woman’s self-defense keychain should put a person at risk
of punishment with a year in the county jail and a $4,000 fine. In
response, the Texas Legislature eliminated the statutory prohibition
and definition of “knuckles.” Therefore, as of September 1, 2019,
the Texas Penal Code contains no references or restrictions on the
previously forbidden knuckles.
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