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Friend of mine just had an encounter witha Harris Co. Sheriff, luckily it was only casual because either this guy was having some fun, didn't know the law, or something really wierd has happened in Harris Co. while I wasn't paying attention.

Friend was at a car wash talking to a SO and the subject of CCW came up. Friend told officer that he was waiting for his CHL and the officer told him that "CHLs aren't honored in Harris Co". The officer then went on to explain that he would arrest anyone carrying a weapon regardless of whether or not they had a CHL. Ok, so friend wrapped up the conversation and exited stage-left.

He called me about 5 minutes ago to ask me if this was true. I told him that I had JUST gone through the Instructor's course in August and that one would only hope that if it were true then it would have taken up a few hours of discussion. A quick search of Texas laws told me what I already knew and confirmed that there had been no secret midnight legislative meetings headed up by our notoriously friendly DA.

Anyways, point was that it was a strange experience. Hopefully the officer was just having some fun with the guy and not truly anti-CHL.

I wonder if he was confused with a CHL as opposed to the "Traveling laws"

If someone were arrested for having a gun with a valid CHL would they have legal recourse for a suit for false arrest?

Even with the traveling laws there needs to be a way of forcing renegade DA's to follow the law. Intentionally disobeying the law should subject the DA to criminal prosecution.

Dave B.

That's the only thing I can think of. If you replace "CHL" with "Traveling Laws" then the whole scenario works out. I'm wondering if maybe he didn't just get the details all confused or maybe he only heard what he wanted to hear. Who knows.

bauerdj wrote:I wonder if he was confused with a CHL as opposed to the "Traveling laws"

If someone were arrested for having a gun with a valid CHL would they have legal recourse for a suit for false arrest?

Even with the traveling laws there needs to be a way of forcing renegade DA's to follow the law. Intentionally disobeying the law should subject the DA to criminal prosecution.

Dave B.

It is likely that the officer would not be able to shield himself from a civil suit under the usual qualified immunity, because your arrest under the "not in my county, you don't" provision would be a clear violation of your statutory right to carry a sidearm as a CHL holder, and the violation of your right should be obvious to any "reasonable person", which is the relevant test for qualified immunity.