Prohibited Weapons in Texas: What the List Still Covers

A great deal of what is written online about Texas prohibited weapons is simply out of date. The list in §46.05 has been cut three times in six years, and summaries written before each change are still in circulation. Working from one of them is risky in both directions: it can suggest an item is illegal when the state no longer prohibits it, and more dangerously, it can suggest an item is now legal when federal law still reaches it. Peter M. Barrett has defended Dallas County cases since 1994, across more than 150 jury trials, and the case review is free and confidential. This guide sets out the list as it stands.

The list as it stands

§46.05(a) makes it an offense to intentionally or knowingly possess, manufacture, transport, repair or sell any of the following. Note that the verbs are broad: transporting or repairing is enough, and there is no requirement of carrying it in public or using it.

Under §46.05(e) every category is a third degree felony, 2 to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000, except an offense involving a tire deflation device, which is a state jail felony, 180 days to 2 years.

The registration answer built into the statute

This is the most important structural feature of §46.05 and the one most often left out. For the explosive weapon and machine gun categories only, §46.05(a)(1) does not apply where the item:

• is registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; or
• is otherwise not subject to that registration requirement; or
• is classified as a curio or relic by the United States Department of Justice.

So lawful federal registration is not a mitigating factor to be argued at sentencing. It takes the conduct outside the offense as written. Conversely, the absence of registration is what the State relies on, which makes the federal paperwork a central piece of evidence in these cases rather than a side issue.

Note the limit: this carve-out is attached to subsection (a)(1) alone. It does not apply to armor-piercing ammunition, a chemical dispensing device, a zip gun, a tire deflation device or an improvised explosive device.

What came off the list, and when

Each of these was an item §46.05 once prohibited and no longer does.

One point of precision, because it is often reported loosely. A club, defined in §46.01(1) as an instrument specially designed, made or adapted to inflict serious bodily injury or death by striking, and expressly including a blackjack, nightstick, mace and tomahawk, is still a defined term in Chapter 46 and still carries consequences elsewhere in the chapter. It is not on the §46.05 prohibited weapons list.

The part that gets people into serious trouble

Texas removing an item from §46.05 does nothing to federal law. The National Firearms Act and its registration regime are federal, administered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and a state repeal has no effect on them.

In practical terms, a suppressor and a short-barrel rifle or shotgun remain federally regulated items. The fact that the Texas offense no longer exists means a person in that position is not facing a state third degree felony. It does not mean the item may be made, held or transferred without complying with federal requirements, and a federal prosecution carries its own sentencing framework that works very differently from a Texas state case. Anyone relying on a 2025 state law change to make a decision about an NFA item should take advice on the federal position first, because that is where the exposure now sits.

The defenses in the statute

§46.05 contains three distinct provisions, and the difference between a defense and an affirmative defense matters, because an affirmative defense is one the defendant must raise and prove.

• §46.05(b), a defense: the conduct was incidental to the performance of official duty by the armed forces or national guard, a governmental law enforcement agency, or a correctional facility.
• §46.05(d), an affirmative defense: the conduct was incidental to dealing with a tire deflation device solely as an antique or curio; or incidental to dealing with armor-piercing ammunition solely to make it available to a §46.05(b) organisation; or incidental to dealing with a tire deflation device solely to make it available to such an organisation.
• §46.05(f), a defense for chemical dispensing devices only: the actor is a security officer who has received training on the device from a programme provided by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, or approved for that purpose by the Texas Private Security Board of the Department of Public Safety. §46.05(g) defines a security officer as a commissioned security officer under Occupations Code §1702.002 or a noncommissioned security officer registered under §1702.221.

Two observations. The §46.05(d) antique or curio route was narrowed in 2025: it previously covered short-barrel firearms as well, and now applies to tire deflation devices only. And the security officer defense is tied to documented training, so the certificate is the evidence.

Why "machine gun" turns on function

§46.01(9) defines a machine gun by what it does: shooting more than two shots automatically, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. Appearance, calibre, magazine capacity and model name are all irrelevant to the definition.

This matters because the question in a contested case is usually mechanical. Whether a particular firearm, in the condition it was found, met that description is answered by examination and testing, and a device or modification that was alleged to produce automatic fire may or may not have done so on the weapon as it actually existed. It is a question for evidence rather than for the label on the indictment, and the same is true of a zip gun allegation, where the statutory question is whether the object was adapted to expel a projectile in the way §46.01(16) describes.

How this fits with the other weapons offenses

§46.05 is about the nature of the item. The other main provisions are about who is carrying what, and where:

• Unlawful carrying of a weapon under §46.02, which turns on the person and the circumstances rather than on a prohibited item.
• Unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon under §46.04, a status offense with its own timing rules.
• Places weapons prohibited under §46.03, which is about location.
• Deadly conduct under §22.05, where a firearm was discharged or pointed.

A single incident often produces counts under more than one of these, and they do not rise and fall together. An item coming off the §46.05 list does not affect a §46.02 or §46.04 count arising from the same facts.

Punishment and the state jail uplift

A third degree felony under §12.34 carries 2 to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. A state jail felony under §12.35 carries 180 days to 2 years in a state jail facility and the same maximum fine, but §12.35(c) punishes a state jail felony as a third degree felony where a deadly weapon was used or exhibited during the offense or immediate flight from it, or where the person has a prior conviction for certain listed felonies. In a tire deflation device case arising alongside other conduct, that uplift is worth checking rather than assuming the state jail range applies.

This page is general legal information about Texas law, not legal advice about your case. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws change, so confirm the current rule with a licensed Texas criminal defense attorney about your specific facts. Request a free, confidential case review.