You ever punch something? Shit hurts. Use protection!
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The nice part about those is you can reuse them even if you’re eating Cheetoes.
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Alternate headline:
Up until recently, brass knuckles were somehow illegal in Texas
From Rep. Moody’s quotation, “And she was arrested for that,” makes me think this is in response to a specific incident (though it could be dreamed-up, obviously) which just felt like a miscarriage of justice. It probably only a takes a few of those to make this whole law a bad idea. I’m not sure how much harm that law was really preventing.
That said I’m always amused-to-avoid-being-enraged when people talk about “law-abiding” people who are, in their story, not abiding the law. What they mean is “people who ought not be punished by the justice system”, which is fine, but too often it seems like they probably mean “white people with decent-paying jobs.”
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Brass knuckles in Texas: legal
Possessing or promoting the sale of six or more sex toys in Texas: Illegal until pretty recently.
A friend who went to UT Austin still has a “Cocks Not Glocks” t-shirt
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What would you recommend I use to stop a Bad Man With Brass Knuckles?
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The article refers to a woman who was arrested for having a heavy self-defense keychain. I guess that doesn’t prove that she used it in self-defense. But the world is so shitty out there for women and vulnerable populations that I’m for this - even if it’s just to make people feel a bit more secure. But without putting more guns on the street.
I suspect as other posters have mentioned they were probably made illegal out of fear and racism about gangs. Brass knuckles can’t be used in a mass killing - so the harm they can actually do is pretty limited.
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They are in fact illegal to sell in Ohio and have been for over 20 years. That being said I’ve never been to a flea market in the state where they weren’t being sold.
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Those were paperweights 
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I use them for hunting.
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A guy who used to work for me expressed the opinion (more than once) that the law should require every adult to carry a loaded gun. Maybe he just liked to push hot buttons on other people and watch for reactions.
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I assume nightsticks are illegal in states where it’s okay to buy a Louisville Slugger too. It’s all about concealability and target purchaser I suppose.
*fixed for spelling
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And I have hundreds of brass knuckles stock piled in a bunker for when the gubmint comes.
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But considering that we KNOW these devices are used to commit violent crimes, isn’t it reasonable to ask if there’s ever been even one example of brass knuckles being used for legitimate purposes beyond providing an intangible sense of security?
More that these bans on things like brass knuckles, certain kinds of pocket knives, nunchuks (seriously), slingshots (based on a misunderstanding of the word) are chiefly used to justify stop and frisk style stops of young minority men. As well as laying menacing and high mandatory sentence gang activity charges on those found with them. Provided they have the right skin color.
These bans were usually instituted not out of practical safety concerns. But as a result of moral panics about “juvenile delinquents” and “urban thugs” in “certain neighborhoods” coming after your white women with them. Brass knuckles are really easy to get. NYC half the bodegas in Brooklyn sell them, despite the fact that they’re illegal. And we aren’t seeing mass brass knucklings at schools. Their actual use on an actual person is already well covered by other laws where use of a weapon in an assault brings heavier charge. As can carrying a concealed weapon without it being specifically banned.
A chef friend of mine was threatened with both a concealed weapons charge and a public menacing/gang activity charge for carrying his knife roll on the NYC subway. You see the knives were concealed in the roll so they were concealed weapons. But since the roll was visible and easily identifiable it also ran up on NYCs menacing and gang knife crime statues. I was likewise warned that the visible pocket clip on one of my pocket knives was in violation of those same two statutes, even though the knife itself was not visible and was legal for concealed carry. Both my friend and I are white so we were let go, but a lot of people in our former neighborhood are not white…
“Self defense” is a Texas ass reason to do this. But left wing activists and black communities in many cities are trying to get these bans done away with.
I have heard of it being applied to anything with a loop shaped hard handle. Including common tools that people use while doing their jobs.
See also bans on “burglary tools” where any common tool kit qualifies if the authorities really want them to.
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The problem is that the CAT and other (plastic) brass knuckles sold to women are pretty shitty and ineffective
I suppose it is too much to ask we quit treating people who own something that could be misused for a crime as if they are all potential criminals? Not even talking about just weapons.
For a non-weapon example - the number of people using encryption for personal use far out numbers the people using it for criminal use, even though criminals do use it in rather large numbers, including the recent higher profile example of the city of Baltimore.
Or, you know, penises.
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I know penises, but I’ve never seen a weaponised one.
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Every male is a potential rapist.
