I’m sure this is on the forum elsewhere, but can you have handgun OUT of plain sight, WITHOUT a CHL in Texas legally?

Yes

Out of plain view

not in plain site

Si

Castle doctrine

Sure as long as your not a felon

Or illegal immigrant.

I thought they could get away with most anything !

haha, nicely done.

Yup...our laws only pertain to us citizens...they are beyond the law

Yes your car is considered your home. I would say it's not wise you might raise some eyebrows. But you don't need to have a license to have it in your car.

at least that was the case last time I looked.

So would I raise some eyebrows if I had a handgun out of sight in my house, too?

Being able to legally carry a handgun in a vehicle has nothing to do with the castle doctrine. It was a legislative change to the penal code several years ago and has nothing to do with your residence either. The castle doctrine is what removed the duty to retreat in a deadly force encounter. It was originally placed in the penal code to prevent people from having mutually agreed to gunfights in the streets.

Yes, as long as you can legally own said firearm.

Yall left out a couple other parts. You can not be commiting any other crime (excluding traffic offenses) or be a member of a criminal gang. If you are doing any of those things and have a gun in your vehicle, it is then unlawful carrying. And it only applies to your vehicle, not you carrying as a passenger in someone elses car.

What about a motorcycle ? I suppose saddlebags would qualify or some other non obvious mode of carry.

Just never heard of that issue addressed .

I don't think you are correct about that last statement. A few years ago I talked directly with the lady,Sherrie Zgabay, that was head of the CHL Dept. at DPS, and asked if it was legal for someone else to possess in my vehicle and was told yes. Must abide by same rules to keep concealed and cannot carry outside of vehicle unless going into residence, including motel or hotel.

The actual code states "inside of or directly en route to a motor vehicle or watercraft that is owned by the person or under the person's control". Control means being operated by, not riding in. I assure you we make arrests for that all the time and is how the statute is written and interpreted by the court. We were not talking about people with an LTC in this thread, just people carrying in vehicles without any license.

Ok Wendling, give me a hand. When I travel out of town, I often toss a pistol in the side of the door. Can I be arrested for that?

That is what I asked about non LTC holder, but I'll not argue the point since you have experience about it..

The statue reads it must be concealed. If an officer sees it when he approaches, its not concealed. And you probably will get to see his sidearm as well. All that being said, like most things in law enforcement, its up to the discretion of the officer. Seem like a good guy that just didnt know, youll probably be informed of the law and sent on your way. If youre not, or you get stopped by some hard-nose arrest everyone cop, you may not continue along your journey for a bit.

Yes ,concealed was said to be needed, that was stated, everything I questioned her about related to non LTC. I asked what qualified as concealed, she said anything covering it that didn't print or suggest a handgun was in it, I asked if the soft or hard sided handgun cases qualified and she said that was iffy because LEO would assume a weapon was in it. Also when leaving the vehicle it must be completely concealed and not on your person, concealed and on your person in vehicle was ok,needed to remove from your person keeping it concealed moving it to a concealed bag when leaving vehicle. .

The second answer was for David Davidson who asked about a gun in a door pocket, not directed at your first question. Sorry if there was some confusion. I think in court, the State would have a hard time arguing that a gun you could not see in a gun case was not concealed. People carry all sorts of things in gun cases as well as empty gun cases. An Officer may think theres a weapon in a gun case, and may even ask, but in my opinion that would be carrying concealed. In my 20 years experience, if you cant see the gun, it is concealed. Be it in a case, under a seat, in a glove box, on your side, etc. Id agree with the rest of what you said in the above post about not carrying on your person except to your destination/residence.