Texas law Sept 1
- Thread starter Murman
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No. The new law only removes "illegal knife" from the penal code. It does not mention metal knuckles at all.
Per Texas Penal Code section 46.05 -
“A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly possesses … knuckles.”
Knuckles are a prohibited weapon and are defined as “any instrument that consists of finger rings or guards made of a hard substance and that is designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by striking a person with a fist enclosed in the knuckles.”
And here is a like to a 2013 article from the Texas District and Criminal Attorneys Association online journal that reports about a case in which "case law" now is set that even "knuckle clutch purse". i.e., purses that have a metal knuckle handle construction are in fact "brass knuckles", where "brass" means "metal".
https://www.tdcaa.com/journal/crime-against-fashion-and-penal-code
Since the guard of an M1918 was designed from the git-go to be used to inflict serious bodily injury or death, legally speaking, it is illegal to even POSSESS an M1918 in Texas.
There is no provision in the TPC allowing for "antique" or "curio status" for these types of knives.
Per Texas Penal Code section 46.05 -
“A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly possesses … knuckles.”
Knuckles are a prohibited weapon and are defined as “any instrument that consists of finger rings or guards made of a hard substance and that is designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting serious bodily injury or death by striking a person with a fist enclosed in the knuckles.”
And here is a like to a 2013 article from the Texas District and Criminal Attorneys Association online journal that reports about a case in which "case law" now is set that even "knuckle clutch purse". i.e., purses that have a metal knuckle handle construction are in fact "brass knuckles", where "brass" means "metal".
https://www.tdcaa.com/journal/crime-against-fashion-and-penal-code
Since the guard of an M1918 was designed from the git-go to be used to inflict serious bodily injury or death, legally speaking, it is illegal to even POSSESS an M1918 in Texas.
There is no provision in the TPC allowing for "antique" or "curio status" for these types of knives.
I have a question about this law too, I had a cheapo knife that has a finger ring in the handle, it was too small to fit a finger through but would that be considered a "brass knuckle"?
This is the ring in question, not my picture but its the same knife.
This is the ring in question, not my picture but its the same knife.
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Well, first, keep in mind I am not a lawyer, so my opinion is not worth a hill of beans, but in parsing the law as written, it refers to the instrument as "knuckles" not "knuckle", "finger rings" not "finger ring" and "guards" not "guard".
So by a strict reading of the law as written, then No, the law would appear NOT to apply to that specific knife.
The kicker is that it doesn't matter whether or not the law applies IF a LEO thinks it might apply. While you might at a later date end up having charges dismissed or even not even filed after your lawyer got through working the system, you'd still be out a lot of time and money and aggravation fighting any possible charges.
Also, there MAY be case law hiding in the court records somewhere that has set a precedence one way or the other.
If your finger(s) doesn't/don't fit through the ring, that MIGHT be a reason why the knife in question would not be classified as being a set of knuckles.
Personally, would I consider such a knife to be a "knuckle weapon"? Nope, but then remember, I'm just a redneck farm boy from Texas who is also well-educated, logical and a "sharps enthusiast" who passed every logical processes/proofs/theorems class he ever took with a "B" or better.
You must remember that the law is legal, not logical.
So by a strict reading of the law as written, then No, the law would appear NOT to apply to that specific knife.
The kicker is that it doesn't matter whether or not the law applies IF a LEO thinks it might apply. While you might at a later date end up having charges dismissed or even not even filed after your lawyer got through working the system, you'd still be out a lot of time and money and aggravation fighting any possible charges.
Also, there MAY be case law hiding in the court records somewhere that has set a precedence one way or the other.
If your finger(s) doesn't/don't fit through the ring, that MIGHT be a reason why the knife in question would not be classified as being a set of knuckles.
Personally, would I consider such a knife to be a "knuckle weapon"? Nope, but then remember, I'm just a redneck farm boy from Texas who is also well-educated, logical and a "sharps enthusiast" who passed every logical processes/proofs/theorems class he ever took with a "B" or better.
You must remember that the law is legal, not logical.