Actually, both statements are somewhat correct and somewhat incorrect. The law does define intoxication and does so clearly. Section 49.01 defines it as the legal limit of .08 or the loss of your normal faculties (the exact definition was posted).flintknapper wrote:No Sir.AEA wrote:You remain legal as long as you do not go over the .08 limit which is the same for operating a Motor Vehicle.
Respectfully, this is incorrect.
There is no "legal limit" as concerns concealed carry. The standard of law here... appears to be "intoxication" alone, (no legal limit guidelines).
You may be intoxicated at .001 BAC if it is your first drink ever and you have a low tolerance for alcohol. You may be intoxicated at .000 BAC if you have taken some other type of intoxicant. And you are legally intoxicated at .08 BAC no matter how little it affects your normal mental and physical faculties. So, there is a legal limit but it is not the only way to become intoxicated under the law.
To understand why section 49.01 applies to chapter 46, you must understand the Code Construction Act (Chapter 311 of the Government Code). It clearly states that if a word has had a technical meaning attached through any law, this meaning now applies wherever used. If there is no technical meaning, then the generally understood meaning is what is used. So, intoxicated now has a specific technical meaning based on 49.01. In addition, the general public now understands the word intoxicated to mean this legal meaning, as opposed to the word drunk. I think the only time I have ever heard the word intoxicated in a conversation, it was in reference to the law.
Of course, not being a lawyer, I could be wrong. But this is the way I was taught to read the laws and how the officers you come into contact with were probably also taught.