TexasCHLforum.com

I advocate legal carry by anyone anywhere LEO can carry without a license. Absolute freedom and no infringement by states or feds.

We're close, except for my part I would allow for non-LEO's to carry anywhere an LEO can with a license. We've been there before, but I just do not regard a shall issue CHL as being an infringement.

The types of things that I have problems with are lifetime restrictions on non-violent felons and non-violent DV "issues". And FWIW, my own opinion is that even violent felons should be able to get their gun rights restored after some period of time - 10 years or something like that. If someone stays out of trouble for 10 years, there's a good argument that can be made that they have rehabilitated themselves.

Unfortunately, I don't see any of those laws changing any time soon.

numist wrote: I agree that LEO should be held to the same standards. Please don't take my opinion on this issue as any kind of personal attack. I just believe that when weapons and alcohol don't mix.

No offense taken.

numist wrote: I just wouldn't want to have alcohol on my breath if I have to use my weapon. I love a good, cold beer on occasion but I won't be carrying when I imbibe.

I hear you. But I just have a different take on it. I would not want to give up my most effective means of self defense just because I decided to enjoy a beer. I'm fully confident that having a beer would have no effect on my decision to shoot or not shoot. I am fully confident that if I ever did decide to shoot it would be because I was facing a last resort situation, and that whether I had a beer before the incident would not make the slightest difference in the ultimate outcome.

If my confidence is misplaced then so be it, but that's how I have decided to live my life and it has worked out pretty well so far.

numist wrote: I'm sure that some people hold there liquor (beer, wine, whatever) better than others. I've always been of the opinion that weapons and alcohol go together like a match in a fireworks stand.

I have never thought that maintaining proper behavior and judgement after having one beer is a matter of "holding one's liquor." I never feel the need to "hold my liquor." I tend to associate that term with people who have multiple drinks at a sitting.

The way I look at it, I'm the same nice, peaceful, law-abiding guy after drinking a beer than I was before. And I have the same legal and moral right to defend myself against criminal attack and/or the unlawful use (or attemp of use) of force against me.

For those rare individuals who have an abnormal response to alcohol such that their judgement goes out the window after one beer, I would say that they should avoid alcohol period, whether they are carrying or not.

For the rest of us, I think the current legal standards for intoxication and/or impaired judgement are reasonable.

So to me, guns and a beer go together like a beer and a steak.

I would just like to see the law apply to LEO's just as it does to CHL's. Right now, it's legal for LEO's to drink themselves drunk while carrying. I think this is wrong and should be changed.

This might be a reason not to let LEO (or anyone else) drink while packing:

All I see there is a reason to fire two irresponsible cops. If the allegations are true, I wouldn't want those guys on the street with badges and guns whether they had been drinking or not.

I do not see where their behavior, as alleged, is in any way typical of people who have had one drink and/or are not intoxicated.

I went out to eat tonight with my sister who is visiting from Florida. I had a bottle of Corona along with what proved to be a very nice steak. All the time my Para Carry 6.45 LDA was tucked in at its customary 3 o'clock position.

I didn't have any problems.

Russell wrote: Next, it would be removal of the prohibition against carrying at a 51% posted location as long as the actor is not drinking alcohol AT ALL, and a professional sporting event (that one is just ridiculous)

As long as they also pass a law that says LEO's can't drink AT ALL when carrying in a 51% establishment, that would be OK with me. Right now, LEO's can drink in 51% establishments, or anywhere alse where drinking is allowed, to their heart's content. Even to the point of getting intoxicated while carrying. (As TXI pointed out once, there is no law currently prohibiting LEO's from getting intoxicated while carrying. The current law only applies to CHL's.)

Under your proposal, if I wanted to drink while carrying, I could just go to a restaurant of course, (not posted 51%)where it is perfectly legal to drink while carrying right now (and presumably would remain so since you didn't mention changing it), provided one does not become intoxicated or under the influence. I would regard that as a minor inconvenience, since most of my "public drinking" such as it is, consists of a glass of wine or a beer with a meal. I very seldom visit 51% places.

But it would seem strange that I could enjoy a drink at a restaurant but not at a 51% place.