Switchblade knives would become legal to carry under a proposal advancing in the Texas Capitol.
Houston Democratic Rep. Harold Dutton presented House Bill 1862 to the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee on Tuesday.
Under current law, switchblades appear on a list of prohibited arms with explosives, machine guns and chemical weapons. Many states banned the knives in the 1950s, when films such as "Rebel Without a Cause" portrayed young men fighting with them.
In recent years, a national group called Knife Rights has campaigned to overturn some of the bans. Knife Rights spokesman Todd Rathner told the committee that switchblades are now legal in 30 states.
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Dutton, who's a Houston Democrat, has told The Associated Press he plans to use the bill to open a larger debate about gun control.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
