TexasCHLforum.com

jed wrote:Some of these replies are sounding a little arrogant. If one is going in another's home as an invited guest on a social visit, not as, say a business service call, what gives one the right to carry without the homeowner's knowledge? Does their invite give one this right? This is not a business, it's a private home.

I only carry in someone's house if I know they are ok with it. It's a respect thing for me.

If I worked where I was making home service calls to stranger's homes, that would be a different thing.

Respect cuts both ways. I don't understand why it would be disrespectful to carry without specific permission to do so. Do you ask if your knife is OK? Do you ask if they care whether you're wearing boxers or briefs? Your premise is that your decision whether or not to carry is up for public discussion. MY assumption is that my decision to carry is no more someone else's business than whether I choose to wear boxers or briefs. It's simply not up for discussion. If someone does need to control whether I wear boxers or briefs in their house, my thoughts are that (A) it is personal decision and none of their business, and (B) it is disrespectful to ME for them to assume that they have a say in the matter. That's not arrogance, that's just setting boundaries. The flip side of that is, if someone doesn't want me....or anyone else, for that matter....to carry a concealed gun in their house, then let them post some kind of notification at their door, so that I can be notified not to do so - and I will respect their sign and honor their desire and not carry into their house. That's called treating me like the adult that I am.

That's why 30.06 and 30.07 are beneficial to both people who carry with a license, and property owners alike. The LTC receives notification BEFORE they can violate the property owner's desires, and it avoids unpleasant confrontations between property owners who don't want you to carry in their establishment (or home). Unless the home owner notifies me not to, how am I supposed to know? Most of the people I know would have no problem with it. If someone does have a problem with it, they need to let me know, and I'll respect their wishes. That's not arrogance, that's respectful. But I can't be respectful if I don't know what your desires are. Where I live, if I do not want solicitors to ring my doorbell, I can put up a no-soliciting sign with specific wording at my front door, and people who approach my door to try and sell me something will then receive effective notice, and the law requires them to move on and leave me alone. But unless I post that sign, it is reasonable for the door-to-door salesman to assume that I don't mind having my doorbell rung. Why should a "we prefer that you not carry your gun in our home" sign on the front door be any more or less burdensome to the home owner who is concerned about guns than a "no soliciting" sign?

RogueUSMC wrote:The way I see it, others' ignorance is my bliss a lot of the time...

FOR THE WIN!

I guess it all comes down to, what kind of people have we included in our circle of friends over the years? I don't mean that qualitatively; I mean it with regard to whether or not our circle of friends is fairly homogenous to ourselves in terms of values, world view, etc. I wouldn't be upset by someone carrying in my house, because I generally know and trust the people I invite into my house. They share my values and my world view. In the event that I've admitted a stranger for whatever reason, I am armed too, so....

It is worth noting that, for me, the only friends I have that I am aware of who do not share my values and world view, are old, old friends, left over from the days when I didn't hold my current values and world view. The bonds established there long ago were strong enough to survive my evolution beyond their statist viewpoint. It's also worth noting that they (there aren't more than 3 or 4 at most) all live back in California, so carrying into their homes is not something I would be likely to do anyway because I don't carry a gun when I'm in California. If national reciprocity ever passes, I'll have to burn that bridge when I cross it. In that event, I would most likely conceal carry while there anyway, and do a good job of it, and I would most likely carry into their homes. What they don't know won't hurt them.

Liberty wrote:A wise and venerated sage of this forum once stated that concealed carry is a lot like underwear. It's nobody's business and in polite company it's not a topic for discussion. I don't discuss what I'm carrying nor if I'm carrying with most people any more than I'm apt to discuss boxers briefs or colors of my undergarments. Asking someone's permission to carry into their home just isn't going to be a conversation that I'm willing to get into.

Most people I know probably assume I carry sometimes, or at least once in a while. If they brought up the subject of whether or not I was carrying I would not give an answer directly. If asked not to carry I would likely comply.

Wisdom.

I understand KLB's point, although I don't agree. I guess it boils down to whether or not you think that carry of a firearm is poor ettiquette. For me, it is poor ettiquette if I have been specifically asked not to, and I do it anyway. I always have a very sharp knife concealed in my pocket. Am I supposed to leave that in the car too? If not, why not? That's kind of where I'm coming from with concealed-carrying a firearm in someone else's home.

This is what happens when people conflate the meanings of "can" and "may".

Certainly you CAN carry into a neighbor's home - assuming you are physically able to do so.

However, your neighbor might decide that you MAY NOT carry into his home - no matter your physical ability to do so.

As a general thing though, I carry into the homes of friends and neighbors unless I am specifically told not to. (Nobody has yet told me not to.) If it is the first time, and I don't know how that person feels about it, I'll conceal the gun. They would have no way of knowing unless they asked me if I was carrying, and I don't give them a reason to ask. But for instance, I have open-carried into my LifeGroup leader's home for meetings any number of times. I know that he is a gun owner and both he and his wife have valid LTCs, but they also never (or rarely) carry a gun. I've never asked him if it was OK, and he's never mentioned it to me. I'm pretty certain that if it bothered him, he'd tell me. But when we used to meet at my house, I open carried then too, so it wouldn't have been a surprise to him when I showed up at his house with a gun on my hip. If he had asked me not to do it, I would have probably honored his request.