Governor Perry was busy yesterday

[Bithabus]

Yes, municipal ordinances are punishable by a fine only, but that doesn't necessarily mean the violator will simply be ticketed. The person violating the ordinance can still be arrested and booked prior to the assessment of a fine.

I appreciate being offered the benefit of your experience, but I don't plan on risking an arrest and a $500 fine on the assumption that every cop in Corpus Christi takes the same relaxed attitude toward knives that you did (particularly when we're talking about switchblades, which have been illegal in Texas since before 99.9% of active police officers were born).

Those ordinances are unenforced or unenforceable. I would not worry about it.

 

[Das Jared]

An FYI to those who are looking at buying a benchmade infidel: MAKE SURE YOU GET THE SINGLE EDGE VERSION. DOUBLE EDGED KNIVES, AUTO OR NOT, ARE STILL PROHIBITED.

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[txinvestigator]

Yes, municipal ordinances are punishable by a fine only, but that doesn't necessarily mean the violator will simply be ticketed. The person violating the ordinance can still be arrested and booked prior to the assessment of a fine.

I appreciate being offered the benefit of your experience, but I don't plan on risking an arrest and a $500 fine on the assumption that every cop in Corpus Christi takes the same relaxed attitude toward knives that you did (particularly when we're talking about switchblades, which have been illegal in Texas since before 99.9% of active police officers were born).

I understand and appreciate your efforts towards eliminating our silly knife laws. However, the reality is that most city level knife laws are used on criminals.

Do you have any cases of Joe Honest Citizen being arrested for only a violation of a knife ordinance?

 

[J. Fred]

Matefrio ? Not a city ordinance though.

 

[Bladed]

Those ordinances are unenforced or unenforceable. I would not worry about it.

Those ordinances are neither unenforced nor unenforceable. What they are is SELECTIVELY enforced.

I'm not aware of anyone being arrested or fined for violating Corpus Christi's less-than-three-inch blade limit (though that doesn't mean it hasn't happened), but people HAVE been arrested in recent years for violating San Antonio's ban on locking-blade knives. A municipal ordinance regulating the possession of knives IS enforceable in Texas.

 

[Bladed]

I understand and appreciate your efforts towards eliminating our silly knife laws. However, the reality is that most city level knife laws are used on criminals.

Do you have any cases of Joe Honest Citizen being arrested for only a violation of a knife ordinance?

They're all innocent until proven guilty--that's how the law works.

No, cops in San Antonio and Corpus Christi aren't doing stop-and-frisks for illegal knives, but the fact that municipal knife ordinances are typically only enforced when the person violating such an ordinance is stopped for the commission of another crime neither justifies the ordinances nor means that law-abiding citizens should feel free to disregard such ordinances.

I think this pretty much sums it up:

When citizens complain about such laws at the local level, the response we typically hear is that these laws are seldom enforced and simply exist to provide law enforcement officers and prosecutors an extra tool to use at their discretion.

While I support efforts to maintain law and order in our cities, it is my opinion that law enforcement officers and prosecutors do not need and should not have the discretion to enforce obscure and--in some cases--bizarre laws. This is a discretion that is too easily abused against someone who may have raised the ire of a police officer or prosecutor but who has not committed any other crime. A violation of one of these municipal ordinances can result in arrest and a fine of up to $500. And although $500 may not sound like a lot of money to some, to the people arrested for violating such ordinances, it may be a month's rent or two month's grocery money.

 

[Shorts]

Selective enforcement of knife laws is analogous to the military's adultery charge.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

I'm not a fan of about 80% of laws, local or otherwise, enforced or not.

Why not just try to get the ordinance removed? Not nearly as hard to change at the local level.

 

[jimtexas68]

New to the forum and this is a very interesting thread. I just wanted to ask some of you if my understanding of the law change is correct. I read it as although I am required by law to conseal in public places, If I were to be carrying (consealed) in a private place (say a buddies house for a BBQ) and said buddy and I got to talking about our favorite EDC and he asks to see mine, I can oblige without fear of breaking the law. After displaying my EDC to my buddy I return my weapon back to its consealed position. If the above scenario happened but not in a backyard but say a hunting ranch, with my CHL and permission from my buddy the land owner, I can open carry in a paddle holster. If my last sentence is true then I have been unknowingly breaking the law. We have open carried pistols at our hunting lease for years before I received my CHL, but it's on private land, behind private gates that are not viewable from public roads. Am I wrong on any of this?

 

[Bithabus]

Those ordinances are neither unenforced nor unenforceable. What they are is SELECTIVELY enforced.

I'm not aware of anyone being arrested or fined for violating Corpus Christi's less-than-three-inch blade limit (though that doesn't mean it hasn't happened), but people HAVE been arrested in recent years for violating San Antonio's ban on locking-blade knives. A municipal ordinance regulating the possession of knives IS enforceable in Texas.

Some are unenforceable, and some are unenforced. That's what "or" means. The people arrested in SA were not joe ctizens.

 

[Shorts]

New to the forum and this is a very interesting thread. I just wanted to ask some of you if my understanding of the law change is correct. I read it as although I am required by law to conseal in public places, If I were to be carrying (consealed) in a private place (say a buddies house for a BBQ) and said buddy and I got to talking about our favorite EDC and he asks to see mine, I can oblige without fear of breaking the law. After displaying my EDC to my buddy I return my weapon back to its consealed position. If the above scenario happened but not in a backyard but say a hunting ranch, with my CHL and permission from my buddy the land owner, I can open carry in a paddle holster. If my last sentence is true then I have been unknowingly breaking the law. We have open carried pistols at our hunting lease for years before I received my CHL, but it's on private land, behind private gates that are not viewable from public roads. Am I wrong on any of this?

No, hunting is a firearm related activity.

 

[Younggun]

Yup, when hunting you can OC with or without CHL.

At a BBQ, it will only apply to CHL holders.

 

[GPtwins]

I did not realize that HB3142 went into effect immediately. I was assuming it was Sep 1 until I look on the Tx leg. online this afternoon. So then there is no SA vs. NSA effective immediately, if I interpret that correctly.

HB 3142 Author: Bell
Sponsor: Estes
Last Action: 06/14/2013 E Effective immediately
Caption: Relating to handguns used to demonstrate proficiency in handgun use for purposes of obtaining a concealed handgun license.

 

[Bladed]

Some are unenforceable, and some are unenforced. That's what "or" means. The people arrested in SA were not joe ctizens.

It's the job of the police to enforce the laws, not decide the laws. Do we really want laws that say, 'You can do this unless the police arbitrarily decide that you can't'?

 

[Shorts]

Yup, effective immediately if it receives the 2/3rds vote. Maybe so they can start printing licenses sans category right away and folks can test with their gun of preference?

 

[Shorts]

It's the job of the police to enforce the laws, not decide the laws. Do we really want laws that say, 'You can do this unless the police arbitrarily decide that you can't'?

I think it's the nature of making contact on a person to enforce a knife law. That's why I said it was analogous to the military's adultery charge. Adultery is not usually the primary charge against a member. Adultery is tacked on along with the more serious charges.

I imagine the knife laws the same way. Unless a person is actively doing something to get the attention of the police that a search reveals they have a knife on them, how do the police even know they have a knife?

 

[Renegade]

Perry has been busy. Apparently he was up at Colt trying to poach business. They let him shoot an LE901 in 7.62x39, a gun that has not bee released yet.

 

[Shorts]

^^I saw that. Is he shooting in a suit??

 

[Das Jared]

The 901 HAS been released, just not that particular upper. The 901 is one of the first AR15/10 hybrids that uses an the same lower together. Pretty neat design

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[Bithabus]

It's the job of the police to enforce the laws, not decide the laws. Do we really want laws that say, 'You can do this unless the police arbitrarily decide that you can't'?

Laws tell us what we can't do, not what we can do.