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Nightmare, I agree.

Jim88, the problem is that there is nothing in the law that makes the car an extension of the home for carrying. This is where people confuse the castle doctrine witht he MPA and do not understand the difference. The castle doctrine is a policy that justifies the use of force in certain situations. It basically says that you may defend yourself without retreating first if you are in your own home. The extensions allow you to defend yourself anyplace you have the legal right to be, and specifically include your car IF someone tries to use force to enter it.

But the laws allowing carry have nothing to do with the use of the weapons. You may carry in your car under the motorist's protection act (MPA). This was the law that modified the definition of unlawfully carrying to say it was legal in your car.

But the problem with your friend's logic overall is the way the MPA modified unlawfully carrying. It is only legal to have the gun in the car if you are not committing any crimes other than a class C traffic offense. If the driver is legally intoxicated, then he is not carrying under the MPA since the exception no longer applies. If the driver did not have a CHL, he would also be committing the offense of unlawfully carrying. But, since he does have a CHL, he is exempt from the unlawfully carrying charge. But he is now carrying under the authority of his CHL and he is intoxicated. That makes him guilty of the violation of 46.035.

Of course, all of this depends on the legal definition of "on or about his person" as was stated. The courts have generally interpreted this phrase to mean if the item is within lunging distance and accessible (sorry, I do not have cites on this accessible right now). So, a pistol in the passenger compartment of a vehicle is on or about your person if it is not in a locked container. if it is in the glove box or console and it is locked, it would not be on or about his person. Same if it is int he trunk of the vehicle. But if it is just under the seat or something, this is still "about his person."