Knife Rights’ Texas Knife Law Reform Bill Passed

USA -(Ammoland.com)- Knife Rights’ bipartisan Texas Knife Law Reform Bill, HB 1935, to repeal “illegal knives” in Texas statute, was passed yesterday evening as the deadline approached on the Senate Local and Uncontested Calendar.

Thanks to everyone who responded to our Alert and called the Lt. Governor yesterday evening. It is now off to Governor Greg Abbott for his action.

Our thanks to our Senate sponsor Sen. John Whitmire for his efforts on our behalf. And, once again, we must express our thanks to our House sponsors, Primary Author, Rep. Frullo, Joint Authors, Reps. Dutton, Kuempel, Moody and Springer and Coauthors, Reps. Canales and Lambert for standing firm in challenging circumstances.

If you live work or travel in Texas, please call Governor Abbott and simply tell the person who answers the phone that you “respectfully request that the Governor please sign HB 1935.”

The Governor’s phone is 512-463-2000

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.

After the tragic University of Texas stabbing, this bill was most certainly dead without the kind of effective advocacy and lobbying skills that comes from Knife Rights’ Director of Legislative Affairs Todd Rathner’s years of experience. Negotiating a bipartisan compromise that kept 95 percent of the bill intact, Todd spent nearly three weeks in Austin shepherding this bill through to passage.

In order to get the bill moved after the stabbing, the bill was amended to stipulate that knives with blades over 5 1/2 inches are now defined as “location restricted” knives.

These knives may be carried all over 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 percent of their income from alcohol sales. Minors are also restricted as to when they can carry these knives.

This is an unfortunate amendment, but the alternative would have been to watch the bill die and throw years of work in Texas down the drain. Assuming Governor Abbott signs the bill, it will still be a huge win for knife owners in Texas

This is a perfect example of why your support is so important. Otherwise, Todd could not have spent nearly three weeks in Austin and this bill would have died. It’s that simple. Your support is critical!

About Knife Right:

Knife Rights is rewriting knife law in America. Knife Rights passed the nation’s first repeal of a switchblade (automatic) knife ban in 2010 in New Hampshire and has since passed repeal of switchblade bans (and repealed other knife restrictions) in Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.