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cb1000rider wrote: 2) .08 is not the defacto DWI determination. They'll determine how you're doing at field sobriety first. If it's questionable, you may get asked to blow. If they think you're still intoxicated on a .04, expect a ride down town.

Actually, .08 BAC is 'de jure' as at .08 or greater there is no question you are by law intoxicated. However, FST, Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, and other visuals are 'de facto' standards that do not define by law you are intoxicated, but factor into the overall determination by an officer you may well be impaired to the level you meet the requirements by law.

LOL wrote:Thanks again for all the replies (especially yours, Leakywaders).

I'm probably reading the responses incorrectly, so let me dial it in for maybe a clearer answer:

I understand the legal impairment BAL is .08 and officer can use discretion when deciding if the driver is in violation, even if under .08. My question boils down to this scenario: PD stops me and I've had a single glass of wine with dinner. I am not close to .08, which is defacto cause to arrest for DUI. The officer, clearly convinced I am not intoxicated from my glass of wine, cuts me loose. Happens all day every day to the populace. Now, throw in I have a CHL and the same factors apply from the above scenario. If the gun is locked away out of my reach in my gun vault, tethered to the rear bench seat, am I technically "carrying" or does the position of the gun and myself constitute "not carrying" for the sake of avoiding a violation of CHL law?

(I'm asking because this scenario has been discussed ad nauseum in the forums and the OP usually relates that he or she simply puts their handgun in the trunk if they have an unplanned alcoholic beverage, thereby negating any chance of "impaired while carrying").

Thanks again!

If you are not impaired for driving you should not be impaired for carrying. There is no difference in the law. HOWEVER, an individual officer MAY have different personal views on what is impaired for driving vs. carrying, even though there is no difference in the law. It will be up to the officer to make the determination and to prove in court that you in fact were impaired to the level you could not carry and/or drive.

As to the locked in the vault, there is no case law that I am aware of where the locked vault means not 'about' your person. However, you could argue that due to the gun being locked in the box and not 'readily accessible', that it was not on or 'about' your person. That would be an argument to prove if you needed it, but nothing in definition for the law on that.

slr001 wrote:
Keith B wrote:
LOL wrote:I understand it's semantics, but to be sure, I'm not "worried". I'm just trying to determine a seemingly gray area for me with regards to not having a way to lock the gun up in a trunk.

I'm absolutely not condoning alcohol consumption and carrying, but in the event I'm returning home and stop for a steak and a single glass of cab, I'm certainly not .08, but through officer discretion could be deemed impaired. If the gun is locked away and out of reach in my gun vault, does my impairment now become negligible since my gun is not readily accessible?

Of course, I'm not going to quote anyone's response here as the law, just wondered if anyone out there had come across this scenario?

I have a lot of friends who are LEO, so I suppose I should have just asked one of them.
Impaired has the same meaning for carrying as it does for driving. If you are impaired, then you can't carry or drive. .08 BAC is definitive intoxicated for both, but under that and impaired is still illegal.
Is this documented somewhere? I was under the impression this was still gray. Agree that .08 is impaired for both, but is it stated somewhere what constitutes impaired for CHL? But yes any reasonable person would agree that .08 would be impaired for both.

But given that CHL law does not specifically state that (I don't think), what stops an officer from making an arrest for carrying at .07, or .065?

I think this is why the OP wants a place in his vehicle that can then eliminate the gray are of having a handgun while intoxicated, but officially under .08

Yes, Texas Government Code §411.171.

DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
............................
(6) “Intoxicated” has the meaning assigned by Section 49.01, Penal Code.
.........................................

And 49.01 is the same for DWI and carrying a handgun

PC §49.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) “Alcohol concentration” means the number of grams of alcohol per:
(A) 210 liters of breath;
(B) 100 milliliters of blood; or
(C) 67 milliliters of urine.
(2) “Intoxicated” means:
(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the
introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a
combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into
the body; or
(B) having an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more.

So, driving or carrying, if you are .08 or higher, you are defacto intoxicated. If under that point you can still be determined to be impaired to the level of being intoxicated at an officers discretion.

LOL wrote:I understand it's semantics, but to be sure, I'm not "worried". I'm just trying to determine a seemingly gray area for me with regards to not having a way to lock the gun up in a trunk.

I'm absolutely not condoning alcohol consumption and carrying, but in the event I'm returning home and stop for a steak and a single glass of cab, I'm certainly not .08, but through officer discretion could be deemed impaired. If the gun is locked away and out of reach in my gun vault, does my impairment now become negligible since my gun is not readily accessible?

Of course, I'm not going to quote anyone's response here as the law, just wondered if anyone out there had come across this scenario?

I have a lot of friends who are LEO, so I suppose I should have just asked one of them.

Impaired has the same meaning for carrying as it does for driving. If you are impaired, then you can't carry or drive. .08 BAC is definitive intoxicated for both, but under that and impaired is still illegal.

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