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The narrative doesn't make it clear at all what the mechanism was. This could have been a "switchblade" if it was a "lever lock" or similar design. No one would really think of it as a switchblade, but it would meet the Texas definition if it had an assist, because the lever is on the handle.

But a normal assisted opening knife, as described by the officer on the stand, where the button or lever is on the blade, does not meet the statutory definition.

This is yet another reason to take a machete to PC chapter 46. Ooops -- a machete would be an illegal knife, wouldn't it?

This is why bad cases make bad case law. If the appellant had been Charles Cotton, Esq., busted for a "prohibited weapon" on school grounds because he pulled into the parking lot to let an ambulance pass, I have no doubt the court would have found differently.

The court correctly stated the law, then ignored a critical portion of it. I'm also curious that at trial, a police officer was allowed to state a fact of law:

"Well, it has like a little button. It's a lever that's on the blade. And all you have to do is barely just touch it and it opens... Any time you can just go like this and it opens, it has a spring and that springs it into action and that's what makes it prohibited."

What's with the "DO NOT PUBLISH" heading? Does that indicate it's under further appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals? Does it only apply in the 4th district?

casingpoint wrote:You want to be left alone, you slice and dice. The horror of seeing their own flesh flayed open is just too much for most people to maintain focus.

Brilliantly described here by Cowtown Cop.

Mark F wrote:I have never really understood the "LOGIC" behind outlawing switchblades or similar knives.

Simple: there was no logic. They were the "assault weapons" of the 1950s, where media hysteria created a hue and cry to "do something!"

I've never seen a large locking folder that wouldn't open with centrifugal force, especially with a little assistance on the thumb stud. Or by opening it in a slightly different way, as I used to open my 4" Buck Lite (no thumb stud): grip the blade between thumb and finger, and flip downwards, so that the handle snaps into open position.