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Paladin wrote:I was reading in the TSRA newletter yesterday that the TSRA is currently working to get the legislature to define "traveling" to include all car travel. They are still in the early stages of this and from the sound of it, I'm not sure anything will happen this year on it...

So I guess we're going to be in limbo for a while longer.

Paladin, I’m a TSRA member as well; however, I haven't gotten a chance to read the newsletter yet. Nevertheless, I suspect that the Legislature won’t define “traveling�, but would amend PC §46.15(g)'s definition of "premises" to include a car.

That subsection currently states, “For the purpose of Subsection (b)(2), ‘premises’ includes a recreational vehicle that is being used by the person carrying the handgun, illegal knife, or club as living quarters, regardless of whether that use is temporary or permanent. In this subsection, ‘recreational vehicle’ means a motor vehicle primarily designed as temporary living quarters or a vehicle that contains temporary living quarters and is designed to be towed by a motor vehicle. The term includes a travel trailer, camping trailer, truck camper, motor home, and horse trailer with living quarters.�

It would be wiser to do it that way, because car carry would become legal, while preserving the “traveling� defense for other situations.

bobrogers wrote:Question: with reguard to carrying a "club" in your car...with or without a CHL, 46.02.b.3 seems to imply to me that if you are "travelling" it is OK. But I could not find anything that defines "travelling". If one is driving their car, they are travelling, aren't they?

Texas courts, over the last century, have repeatedly asked the Legislature to define “traveling�, and the Legislature has never seen fit to define it. Thus, “traveling� will be determined on an ad hoc basis by the trier of fact, i.e. the jury in a jury trial or the judge in a bench trial. It has been said that “[t]he case law attempting to apply the defense is in a ‘condition of hopeless confusion’�. See George v. State, 90 Tex. Crim. 179, 234 S.W. 87, 88 (1921); Birch v. State, 948 S.W.2d 880, 882 (Tex. App.--San Antonio 1997, no pet.). However, a long journey across several counties will generally suffice.

Moreover, you should note that “traveling� is a defense to prosecution. This means that a peace officer can arrest you for UCW and it will be your responsibility to submit evidence that you were indeed “traveling�, before you can use the defense. Consequently, you are taking a risk every time you rely on this defense.