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Beiruty wrote:in TX one can volenteer to be sworn peace officer, a deputy sherrif, carry anywhere an LEO can carry. My next door had that advantage and he was a full time engineer, he did not care about 30.06 any where and even at our workd place where the parking lots are posted.

Interesting this came up, not sure if it was before or after Christmas, but the Dallas PD was looking for volunteer reserve officers. I was wondering if this included the right to carry anywhere a LEO can. Are there age restrictions?

There are age cut-offs depending on the department. Most reserves are guys who were licensed and worked full time but then left the profession to go work in a higher paying career. Very few people want to take 5-6 months out of their life or career in order to go reserve and not get paid.

More importantly, I'd be curious if either of these 2 lawmakers have voted to infringe upon our right to carry at any point.

74novaman wrote:More importantly, I'd be curious if either of these 2 lawmakers have voted to infringe upon our right to carry at any point.

Same questions, as well as ... did they have to pass any minimal competency shooting test? Are they 'safe, knowing the rule of gun safety - or would they just add to a problem situtation? Oh, wait - they are special - given authority without any responsibility!

74novaman wrote:More importantly, I'd be curious if either of these 2 lawmakers have voted to infringe upon our right to carry at any point.

I did the research myself. Both seem to support the 2A, and both wanted national carry reciprocity.

gigag04 wrote:It's not just deputies. Our reserves are the same way.

My dept will put you through the academy to be a reserve. Issue you full uniform, badge and gun. You're only expected to work 8hrs/month and some special events. Every agency is different.

I'm intrigued! I checked around here: Houston PD has no reserves program, and Harris County Sherrif requires 20 hours/month, and vision correctable to 20/20. Mine's only 20/25, and 20 hours/month sounds a lot less interesting than 8.

I'll keep sniffing around... it would be nice to get LEOSA privileges!

Had an uncle-in-law did it on a whim when he moved to the Houston area. Worked the area around Gilleys back when it was in it's hey day right after the Urban Cowboy movie. He loved it and only stopped when his Company transferred him to Hawaii.

In Denton County they have a program, it does require a commitment of time and requires 24 hours per month and the Texas Peace Officer certification. The city I live in has a volunteer program that is used as additional feet on the street as needed but they are not allowed to carry a firearm, basically eyes and ears and traffic duty durin special events. I would think other counties have similar programs, just need to find them and see what their specific requirements are. I would have volunteered for the City program, the deal breaker was the no firearms policy, I can carry under my CHL, but not why volunteering for a "special" officer... I understand the potential liability, in they eyes of the power to be the negatives must outweigh the benefits..... not passing judgement on their decisions, and do not want to start any community bashing, thats their right, citizens rights are to avoid playing that particular volunteer game if you don't like the rules....

Beiruty wrote:in TX one can volenteer to be sworn peace officer, a deputy sherrif, carry anywhere an LEO can carry. My next door had that advantage and he was a full time engineer, he did not care about 30.06 any where and even at our workd place where the parking lots are posted.

Theoretically said engineer could still be dismissed if the company didn't want him carrying at work, though he could not be prosecuted under 30.06. When I was working as a night shift supervisor at a factory in 1992, one of our workers was a full time paid Dallas County Deputy Sheriff. How he worked two full time jobs I'll never know...He was the Pastor of a church on the weekends too.

One evening, he approached me privately and asked if he could carry at work, as he was under some kind of threat from an investigation that he was doing. I told him, sure you're a Deputy, I assumed you always were carrying. It never occurred to me to take it higher up or to HR, etc. They probably would have found some reason to say no, though he still would have been legal.