So, did you list that arrest on your CHL application?talltex wrote:There was NO legally specified way to carry a handgun...period. You could walk into any store that sold firearms and buy one with no problem, but LEGALLY, you were in violation of the law when you carried it home. All the stipulations people talked about that made it legal to carry came from one paragraph in the penal code following the listed offense of "carrying a prohibited weapon". That section stated that "IT IS A GENERALLY RECOGNIZED DEFENSE TO PROSECUTION", if the defendant was in possession of a handgun: while engaging in a lawful sporting activity (driving to a gun range, hunting, etc), traveling (although it didn't define the term, it said that crossing one or more county lines was OFTEN deemed sufficient), by someone whose employment required them to travel to and from their worplace or home with "substantial" amounts of money (such as carrying cash receipts home at night or to the bank for deposits or from one location to another). That was IT...there was no legal carry, and you COULD be arrested at any time, if found carrying a handgun in your vehicle or on your person, anywhere except on your own property, and it was then up to you to convince a judge that you should be granted an exception based on your circumstances. Over time, those exceptions came to be viewed by most people as the LEGAL ways you could carry, but they weren't...they were just USUALLY accepted as a DEFENSE if you were charged. In most cases, particularly in rural areas, it didn't take much convincing and unless you had a criminal background the charges would be dropped. It happened to me once back in the 70's when I got stopped for a traffic violation by a constable that I had a personal history with from high school days. I had been to the local gun club for a skeet and trap tournament and had 5 shotguns, along with a .45 colt auto laying on the seat (in a pouch). He arrested me and took me to the jail, booked me in, and I had to sit there for several hours before one of the deputies was able to get ahold of the County Judge (this was on a Saturday afternoon), who came down an ordered them to release me and instructed the constable to "never pull this kind of stuff again" and to destroy the paperwork.
