TexasCHLforum.com

I was told by my CHL instructor way back when I took the course that according to the law if the wind blew your coat open and briefly revealed your gun or if you reached up real high to grab some bread off the top shelf of the supermarket and revealed your gun, you were in violation of the law.

I was told by two other men who are also CHL holders that Texas amended the law to where now you are okay if such a think happens as long as you are making "a reasonable effort" to conceal it.

True or false or a little of both.

Reasonable effort is the correct answer.
However, if you are concealing in such a way that reaching above your head exposes your weapon, then I dont believe you are making a resonable effort. Just my opinion. You ought to know better.

Dan

The law does not say anything about reasonable effort.


Texas Penal Code
§46.035. Unlawful carrying of handgun by license holder.

(a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder
carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the
authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and
intentionally fails to conceal the handgun.


Texas Penal Code
§6.03. Definitions of culpable mental states.

(a) A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect
to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is
his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause
the result.



Texas Government Code
§411.171. Definitions.

In this subchapter:


(3) "Concealed handgun" means a handgun, the presence of
which is not openly discernible to the ordinary observation of a
reasonable person.

hehehe, beat Txi again!

No, your fine, like it was said, you've made a reasonable effort...

I'm not going to be sweating in a breeze...

hehehe, beat Txi again!

No, your fine, like it was said, you've made a reasonable effort...

I'm not going to be sweating in a breeze...

stevie_d_64 wrote:hehehe, beat Txi again!

No, your fine, like it was said, you've made a reasonable effort...

I'm not going to be sweating in a breeze...

You wish

txinvestigator wrote:

stevie_d_64 wrote:hehehe, beat Txi again!

No, your fine, like it was said, you've made a reasonable effort...

I'm not going to be sweating in a breeze...

You wish

You guys sure seem to enjoy poking at each other, makes me LOL

I knew Txi would be in here with the letter of the law. And I for one am educated every time.
But in laymans terms, I think it's on par.

intentionally fails

[/quote](a) A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect
to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is
his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause
the result.

As opposed to "reasonable effort"

Dan

Good job on posting the relavent statutes, including the all-important definitions.

My reading of it, as a layman, is that the legislative intent was to criminalize what might be called "flashing" (in addition to purely sloppy carrying of course).

What I mean is, in the midst of some kind of "discussion", possibly including a difference in outlook or opinion, the CHL holder in one way or another "causes" the other party or parties to see that he is carrying a gun, with the unstated purpose of intimidating them or some similar purpose.

I'm not saying that someone might not get busted on account of an errant gust of wind. But it does not seem to me that that was what the lawmakers had in mind.

JMHO.

One situation that comes up frequently (for me anyway) is transferring my gun from my glove compartment to my belt while driving down the road. I make it a point to only do this when there are no other vehicles around that have any sort of view into my truck. (I drive a compact pickup, so there are many other vehicles that sit up higher than mine.)

I pick my spots carefully just to avoid any nonsense about "intentionally displaying" it.