TexasCHLforum.com

JALLEN wrote:

srothstein wrote:

jbarn wrote:

Texas Penal Code
Sec. 1.07. DEFINITIONS. (a) In this code:

(40) "Public place" means any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes, but is not limited to, streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.

Does a substantial group of the public have access to the community?

I think you have your answer right in the quote of the law. Notice that it says the common areas of apartment houses? That is all private property and could even be a gated apartment complex that most people cannot enter. I cannot think of any difference between the common area of a gated community and the common area of an apartment complex.

The public does not have access to the common areas of the gated community, at least in theory. Everyone must be either an owner or a business invitee, someone on the property at the invitation of an owner. That removes the "substantial" requirement at least in my mind.

BTW, as of next week I will no longer be able to hold myself out as an attorney, as I have elected inactive status with the State Bar of California. I intend to resign by the end of the year probably.