[NoobCannon]

I've tried saying this time and again, and each time I get the same response.

My dad has got it in his head that in order to carry a handgun in your vehicle in Texas it has to be unloaded and in a locked compartment....DESPITE him and I taking the SAME CC class on the SAME day, side by side, where it was covered that you can keep a loaded handgun in the car, as long as it's not exposed.

I'm particularly interested in doing this when travelling into the not-so-nice parts of Town, especially since I'm half blind and a good punch landed on his upper body will leave him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Yet all my pleading and attempts at reasoning have reached the same brick wall of him swearing up and down that carrying a loaded pistol in the car, if you get pulled over, you go directly to jail. Really, sometimes that old fart is infuriating.

I know this forum is shared with Many Texans, as well as many LEOs, so please, help me set the record straight with him.

 

[jonrjen]

Why not gon on line and print out the TX HB that address the latest change in the law. For a law written by a bunch of elected officals and lawyers it is fairly easy to read and understand.

 

[Zylo_X]

Since you're "half blind" ... Here you go. This is an over view, and you should also Google "HB 1815".

Texas Motorist Protection Act

 

[NoobCannon]

yeah well...me being half blind is my own fault...remember how your parents used to say 'Don't play with BB guns, you'll put your eye out'? Dad worked 80 hours a week when I was younger and I found out the hard way that my little BB gun was just as dangerous as Dad's real guns. Since then I usually keep a knife on my blind side to give me a little assistance if something ever does happen. Both dad and I are working on getting our CHLs, but in the meantime, I'd feel much safer in certain areas if He'd let us have a pistol stashed in the car for just in case.

Thanks alot for the article, Zylo_X, I'm printing it out now to show him.

 

[Smokewagon]

Zylo's got it. MPA became effective in 2007, because of all those DA's (not dumb asses, well maybe they are) that prosecuted legal travelers anyway. Some restrictions apply, but if you aren't criminal, or a gangster, you're good to go.

 

[pgreen]

I can prove it... well at least to me and online....

I was stopped today by a State Trooper in I35 north of the I35W/I35E split (south of Ft Worth, TX). When the trooper approached the car I was questioning the same laws myself! I had a Sig/Saurer .40 cal loaded and ready to rock in my door pocket. I told him as he approached (my tinted windows down, hands very visible). His demeanor was still very relaxed and he just said to make it easy, he would just seperate me from the car (and the loaded firearms). I got out of the car, the took a cursory look in the door pocket (didn't touch it, or even really look close). I waited between my car and his while he wrote me a written warning for no front license plate (what he stopped me for originally).

He said, "I assume you don't have a CHL" (assuming because I didn't give him my card). I said "not yet". He then told me that it is "perfectly legal, and pretty much normal". It must be concealed in the car. He suggested I remove it from my door pocket, as it is visible when I get in/out of the car. However, it doesn't usually stay there when I'm not in the car. I don't want a broken window because some idiot wants my gun!

So, right from the officer's mouth... "perfectly legal, and pretty much normal" in TX.

 

[kinggabby]

Next time you and him are out stop a LEO and ask him so your father can hear it from a cop. That should clear it up for him.

 

[j3hill]

Next time you and him are out stop a LEO and ask him so your father can hear it from a cop. That should clear it up for him.

Problem with that is, that not all cops know what the laws are. Like here in Washington you need a permit to have it on you in the car, even if you are open carrying, because the state considers a car concealed, however make no provisions for a motorcycle. And you can carry open on any transit bus in the state without a permit. But no long guns in your car loaded. The state also says if you dont have a permit and you are in your car, it must be unloaded and in a container, but does not say what kind of container.
I think every state should just say " It's a gun, it's your personal property, do whatever you want, just dont shoot anyone unless they have it comin'" That law would be easy to understand.

 

[gale155]

Next time you and him are out stop a LEO and ask him so your father can hear it from a cop. That should clear it up for him.

Good idea...sounds like NoobCannon's dad might be older, and some older folks can be pretty stubborn and hard-headed. However, I'd suggest just taking dad to a police station, rather than stopping a cop on the street somewhere.

 

[RevolverFan]

yeah well...me being half blind is my own fault...remember how your parents used to say 'Don't play with BB guns, you'll put your eye out'? Dad worked 80 hours a week when I was younger and I found out the hard way that my little BB gun was just as dangerous as Dad's real guns. Since then I usually keep a knife on my blind side to give me a little assistance if something ever does happen. Both dad and I are working on getting our CHLs, but in the meantime, I'd feel much safer in certain areas if He'd let us have a pistol stashed in the car for just in case.

Thanks alot for the article, Zylo_X, I'm printing it out now to show him.

I shouldn't have smiled at the BB story, but it sounds like something my folks would have said, and the results of my not listening! BTW, it's a good thing that y'all can carry in vehicles like that. MN and I think IA have laws that state if firearms are carried in a vehicle, ammo and firearms must be stored separately. AND, if you do have -- let's say a pistol -- within hand's reach, the ammo must be out of arm's reach.......