period of time not less than three years, nor more than fifteen years.Cramer, pp. 111–112: So great was public pressure to clamp down on use of the Bowie knife that the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the law two years later (Aymette v. State, 2 Hump. (21 Tenn.) 154 (1840)), even though it had to pointedly ignore its own prior 1833 decision on the state constitutional right to bear arms in order to do so (Simpson v. State, 5 Yerg. 356, Tenn. 1833: "By this clause of the constitution, an express power is given and secured to all the free citizens of the state to keep and bear arms for their defence, without any qualification whatever as to their kind or nature." Even Texas passed legislation in 1871 prohibiting the carrying of a Bowie knife "on or about one's person" in public places, a law which remained in place until 2017. Although many jurisdictions worldwide have knife legislation regulating the length of a blade one may own or carry, certain locales in the United States have legislation restricting or prohibiting the carrying of a "Bowie knife". Most of these laws were characterized at the time as 'anti-dueling' laws. However, it is important to note that in this context, the term dueling had degenerated from its original 18th century definition (a rarely used social custom among the wealthy classes) into a generalized description for any knife or gun fight between two contestants. In some states, many of these laws are still in force today whereas, in other states, these laws were repealed or amended. In 2017, the old Texas law prohibiting the carrying of a Bowie knife in public was finally updated to allow such carry in most circumstances, with exceptions for knives of a certain blade length which cannot be carried in schools, polling places, places of worship, amusement parks, courthouses, racetracks, correctional facilities, hospitals and nursing facilities, sporting events, and certain establishments selling alcohol. The Texas Legislature designated the Bowie knife as the official state knife of Texas in 2021. It is argued that the terms "Bowie Knife" and "Arkansas Toothpick" are too subjective to form the basis of sound legislation. See also Arkansas toothpick Notes Informational notes Citations Further reading Cramer, Clayton E. Concealed Weapon Laws of the Early Republic: Dueling, Southern Violence, and Moral Reform. Praeger Publishers, 1999. External links American frontier Blade weapons Knives Weapons of the