Get them Auto Assist knives in your pocket tomorrow!

[AEA]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for that explanation.

Based on it I will now agree that they have the right and are legal in doing what they want.

But now I am totally confused.
You see, I made that assumption based on handgun laws (not knife laws). And it appears that they are both not the same.

What I mean is that as far as I understand, a City cannot restrict our Gun Rights as defined by the State. So, you then see how I could be mistaken when I assumed that they could not restrict our Knife Rights.

I am actually not a Knife kinda guy, but I thought surely the State of Texas was smart enough to make the State Laws concerning Knives be as clear as the Gun Laws.........or am I confused on this too?

[srothstein]

I think you have it now. The state preemption law specifically mentions firearms instead of the more generic term weapons. Since both are covered together in Chapter 46 of the Penal Code, we tend to think of them similarly. In reality, each type of weapon can be handled differently with the five major types being firearms, edged weapons, impact weapons, energy weapons, and chemical weapons.

So a city could pass whatever laws they want on knives, swords, clubs, OC spray, Tasers, etc. as long as they were making them more restrictive than state law. But, since we have preemption on firearms and explosives, cities cannot regulate them very much.

The interesting parts of this, when you want fine points for academic discussion, are in Chapters 229 and 235 of the Local Government Code. The law is not as simple as we say sometimes since it does allow for some specific regulations (like discharging a firearm and property sizes). And the preemptions are different for cities and counties. And there are about as many different variations of these laws as there are cities and counties in Texas. Some even ban pellet guns and air guns (since they are not firearms), some almost no ban whatsoever, and some ban archery equipment.

As citizens, we can talk general rules and that is what we usually do. But there is a reason law school takes so long and court cases are so complex. The real laws are not as we usually think. When you want to give yourself a headache, dig out a copy of the laws and try to read what the actual law is on something you thought you understood. Two good examples are theft and speeding. We all know what they are, right? Wait until you try to read those laws.

[AEA]

Thanks Steve!