Texas PC 46.02 says unlicensed carriers can have a pistol in their car but it must not be "in plain view."Crash wrote:I note that some of the replies seem to advocate putting the weapon somewhere in the car where it is neither concealed nor carried openly, e.g. on the front of the driver's seat. In Texas, as far as I know, if one is carrying concealed, then the gun must be concealed, even in a car. If one is carrying openly, then the gun must be in a belt holster or shoulder holster.
If I'm wrong about this, please correct me.
Crash
PC 46.035 says that "partially or wholly visible" is OK for licensees as long as the pistol is "... in a shoulder or belt holster ..."
We have not yet had the proverbial "test case" yet. However, around the first of last year, some chiefs of police and district attorneys expressed the opinion that license holders would not be cited for carrying their pistol in an off-body holster while in their vehicle.
PC §46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER.
(a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun
on or about the license holder’s person under the authority of Subchapter H,
Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally displays the handgun in plain
view of another person in a public place. It is an exception to the application of
this subsection that the handgun was partially or wholly visible but was carried in
a shoulder or belt holster by the license holder.
In Texas, as licensed carrier, I am comfortable carrying my holstered pistol in the door pocket of my car. When I visit New Mexico next week, I'll keep it on my belt.
IANAL, YMWV.