By Riane Roldan, Texas Tribune

Had one north Texas woman not gotten into a fender bender last year, police might have never arrested her for carrying a cat-shaped self-defense keychain in her purse, and the law banning those same weapons might have gone unnoticed.

With the cat-shaped self defense keychain, the eyes of the cat become finger holes and the ears become spikes when clutched in one’s hand to create a means of surprise-defense against an attacker.

State Rep. Joe Moody, a Democrat...