Texas knife laws?

AusLoX

AusLoX

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I will be heading to Texas at the end of the month. I was wondering if butterfly knives and auto/OTF knives are available for purchase in Texas. I plan on shipping them back to CA
 
They are legal to carry as long as they are single edged with a blade length of 5.5" or less. Any length and/or double edged are legal to own, you just can't carry them in public.

The challenge is going to be where to find/buy them. "Going to Texas" refers to a rather large area. :D
 
From Wikipedia:

"In modern-day Texas, the state Jim Bowie died defending, the carrying of a Bowie knife "on or about one's person" in public places is specifically regulated under state law.[34] This prohibition does not apply to a person carrying the Bowie knife on one's own property, private properties etc. nor to any person carrying a Bowie knife inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle or watercraft owned by that person or under that person's control.[34]"
 
FoXHounDXD said:
i think the only knives illegal in Texas are gravity knives.
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The only place in the Texas penal codes where the word "gravity" was used was in the definition of what defined a switch blade. With the legalization of switch blades, even that single instance has vanished.

abbydaddy said:
From Wikipedia:

"In modern-day Texas, the state Jim Bowie died defending, the carrying of a Bowie knife "on or about one's person" in public places is specifically regulated under state law.[34] This prohibition does not apply to a person carrying the Bowie knife on one's own property, private properties etc. nor to any person carrying a Bowie knife inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle or watercraft owned by that person or under that person's control.[34]"
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Wikipedia is not even my 5th source of knife law info. And this was not applicable to switch blades or "gravity" knives before switch blades became legal for public carry.
 
I'm not asking about carrying a knife in Texas. I want to purchase a butterfly/Auto/OTF and ship it back to CA. Does Texas sell these types of knives?
 
Im not positive nor an expert but if I understand the laws correctly ... the illegal part comes transporting / shipping an auto across state lines. So that would be something Id be sure to contact someone that has the professional answer to that issue.
 
I'm not worried about the shipping part. I have that part taken care of. Just wondering if they sell the butterfly/auto/OTF knives
 
zzyzzogeton said:
They are legal to carry as long as they are single edged with a blade length of 5.5" or less. Any length and/or double edged are legal to own, you just can't carry them in public.

The challenge is going to be where to find/buy them. "Going to Texas" refers to a rather large area. :D
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AusLoX said:
I'm not asking about carrying a knife in Texas. I want to purchase a butterfly/Auto/OTF and ship it back to CA. Does Texas sell these types of knives?
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AusLoX said:
I'm not worried about the shipping part. I have that part taken care of. Just wondering if they sell the butterfly/auto/OTF knives
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OK, since you didn't seem to understand an answer by inference, I'll be very blunt - I said they are legal. Therefore by implication/inference someone somewhere sells them.

The second half of my answer was an implied question as to where you are going in Texas to provide you with more info cause I'm not gonna try to read your mind all the way out there in California.

Texas is over 800 miles E-W and nearly 800 N-S. If you are going to a major metropolitan area, and intend to spend sometime there, then with some effort, you'll be able to find a location that sells switch blades and balisongs. Texas has very few "knife stores". Other than wally world, c-bella, the bass place, etc which only carry a limited selection of a few brands, the major brick and mortar sources of knives here is gun shops, mil surplus stores and pawn shops. You will not be able to walk in and peruse a selection of 100s of choices.

Your best bet will be to decide what you brand you want buy, got to that company and search for dealers of their products in Texas. Example - You want a Pro-Tech and you're going to San Antonio/El Paso? SOL Going to Dallas? Rent a car and drive to Richardson. Houston? Again, rent a car and be prepared to drive a long way as there is only 1 Houston dealer. Austin? The only dealer is 40 miles north of downtown in a small town.

So, can you buy switch blades and balisongs? Yes. Will you be able to buy what you want? Pick a brand and start searching. Hopefully the dealer you find will have what you want. Good luck with the Easter egg hunt.
 
I agree. Buying a bali or auto here isn't like hopping across the border and seeing Cuban cigars everywhere you go. To be honest I don't think I've seen any autos for sale anywhere in Texas, but I haven't really been shopping for one. You could try a LEO supply store.
 
Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate the responses. Sorry zzyzzogeton, I didn't realize that you said they were legal, I usually don't want to infer anything because it's led to disappointment in the past. I will be in Round Rock Texas which is outside Austin if I'm not mistaken. I will do some more research but if anyone knows a shop in that area I would appreciate the name of the shop. Once again, thank you.

Also, in CA they're legal to own...but you can't buy them here. So that's why I didn't want to infer as well.
 
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OK. I didn't realize there was a purchasing problem in California, especially since Pro-Tech is there.

I use Pro-tech (9 dealers in Texas) as an example all the time because those are what I have.

RR is about 24 miles from downtown RR to Liberty Hill, where "A Texas Girl's Guns" gun shop, the only PT dealer in central Texas, is located. You might look them up online and give them a call to see what she carries. She might be able to get a specific model in before you get there.

There are 12 businesses that offer Benchmade products with in 25 miles of dt RR, but one of them, GT Distributors requires that you have a Fire/EMS/LEO ID to get in.

There are 4 Microtech dealers in Texas, with 2 about the same distance from RR - over in the Bryan-College Station area around Texas A&M, which is about 95 miles from dt RR.

Those 3 companies are the only manufacturers of switch blades and/or balisongs I know of. There are probably other makers that have CenTex dealers, but I don't know who they might be.
 
I used to reside in East Texas until recently. Balisongs weren't that hard to find. You could even get them at sporting goods chain stores. The auto's are a bit harder to come by, but could still easily be found with some searching. You'd just have to go to an actual knife shop or a local Army/Navy.
 
The only really dedicated knife store in the DFW area is House of Blades in far NW Fort Worth. It's located out by the Naval Air Station off 820, about 30 mins from downtown and an hour from Dallas. Other than that, there are a pair of Bass Pros and a pair of Cabelas in the area and that's pretty much it.
 
Any Gun and knife show. Especially in San Antonio.
Auto's of all types and balisong will be there. From cheap to very expensive. :thumbup:
 
John_0917 said:
And often fake...and all illegal in the city of San Antonio...
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There's one of the catches - illegal to carry but NOT illegal to sell. :D

The ordinance makes no mention what-so-ever about selling (or rather, not being able to sell) them. Virtually every big-box store, home improvement store (gowes and dome mepot), base PXs (Lackland, Randolph, Ft Sam), etc, sell the heck out of them.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
There's one of the catches - illegal to carry but NOT illegal to sell. :D

The ordinance makes no mention what-so-ever about selling (or rather, not being able to sell) them. Virtually every big-box store, home improvement store (gowes and dome mepot), base PXs (Lackland, Randolph, Ft Sam), etc, sell the heck out of them.
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Yea, it's a totally useless law. It's only success is that it made city council members feel like they did something to stop the Mexican teenage gang members from knifing each other. Of course, they didn't...and they often just shoot each other instead anyway.

Hopefully, preemption passes and gets signed this session and we can put this crap to rest for good.
 
AusLoX said:
Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate the responses. Sorry zzyzzogeton, I didn't realize that you said they were legal, I usually don't want to infer anything because it's led to disappointment in the past. I will be in Round Rock Texas which is outside Austin if I'm not mistaken. I will do some more research but if anyone knows a shop in that area I would appreciate the name of the shop. Once again, thank you.

Also, in CA they're legal to own...but you can't buy them here. So that's why I didn't want to infer as well.
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My experience is that the best approach is to order what you want online. You can find exactly what you are looking for, and the prices online tend to be better than what you will pay in a brick and morter.
 
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