En garde, cowboy!
Texas will be allowed to “open carry” with swords as of Friday, when a new law permitting residents to brandish blades longer than 5.5 inches comes into effect.
In addition to swords, adults in the Lone Star State will be allowed to carry spears, Bowie knifes, daggers, throwing knives and machetes in public, the San Angeleno Standard Times reports.
Swords will still be banned from bars, schools, polling places, secure areas of airports, racetracks, most sporting events, prisons, hospitals, amusement parks and places of religious worship.
Cops are anticipating an uptick in reports from residents alarmed to see people strutting the streets with sabres.
“I’m sure we’ll get people calling like they did with the long guns and we’ll go out and talk to them, but I don’t expect much more than people just trying to make a statement,” James McLaughlin Jr., executive director for the Texas Police Chiefs Association, told the Houston Chronicle.