TexasCHLforum.com

Without a CHL I know it is legal to carry when going directly too and from the range. My question is can I carry the the gun loaded and concealed in a belt holster or does it need to be transported locked in the trunk and unloaded.

Hopefully this question will soon be moot as I am at 52 days and checking the DPS site and my mailbox on a daily basis. By the way I know of at least one case where the CHL showed up in the mailbox two days before the website changed to "permit active".

bauerdj wrote:Without a CHL I know it is legal to carry when going directly too and from the range. My question is can I carry the the gun loaded and concealed in a belt holster or does it need to be transported locked in the trunk and unloaded.

Texas law on "unlawfully carrying a weapon" does not specify open or concealed, loaded or not, accessible or not.

Except.... as of September 1, 2005, it's now pretty much legal to carry without a CHL so long as you're in a motor vehicle. (There are many many arguments about this law, but we needn't go into them for your question.) And now for the big "Except.... ": the law that defines "travelling" as "in a motor vehicle" requires that the weapon be concealed.

And so now there's a new wrinkle to the law. Before the new law, you were okay to carry loaded or not, concealed or visible, accessible or locked in the trunk, while engaged in or en route to an activity commonly requiring use of such a weapon (trips to/from the range were unquestionably okay). But now, failing to conceal a handgun from "ordinary observation", even while en route to the range with a stack of targets, could get you charged with UCW.

Ain't the law wunnerful? :D

So until your CHL arrives, just put your stuff in a range bag, or throw a towel over it.

Kevin