Remind me again of your gun laws., page 3

In TX, the laws vary slightly by county, and most of the power is put into the hands of a grand jury, to decide what you can be charged with.

In the urban areas, you will get in trouble for having a firearm in your car. There's a law in TX that if you are traveling more than 2 counties from your home, you can carry a gun for protection. It's important to note that most counties in TX are 25-75 miles across; so you actually have to be traveling. When the HOUSTON PD has tried to hassle visitors from rural areas, the grand juries have asked whether the person had suitcases, etc., and "no billed" (refused to formally charge) the defendant, without which the prosecutor cannot procede to trial.

It's illegal to carry a gun in liquor stores, hospitals, schools, county buildings etc. Other buildings can be declared a "No Gun Zone," by the owner, and it's a crime to carry a gun there.

On the other hand, in rural TX, you also see signs that say "Guns Welcome! Help Us Deter Crime!" It really varies with the locality and the attitudes in that spot.

There was a notorious case in TX in the 1990's, that Ted Koppell raised hell with on "Nightline." A guy in rural Dallas County heard a noise in his driveway at 3 in the morning. He had defaulted on the bank payments on his pickup. He saw a guy trying to force the lock on the truck, and the homeowner shot him.

The homeowner told the grand jury that in his mind, the bank would never believe it if the truck was stolen---they'd think he sold it and was trying to collect insurance. The man said he shot because of that. He shot the guy in the leg, but it hit an artery and the guy died.

It turns out that the "thief" was a "repo man," hired by the bank to collect the pickup. He had made no legal attempt to contact the owner or confiscate the pickup, and was known for just stealing vehicles the bank wanted back.

The grand jury "no-billed" the homeowner, and told the judge that repo or not, the man was a thief under the law, and the homeowner was not under an obligation to risk his own life by announcing his attention to shoot.

Ted Koppell railed about it for weeks, especially to the overseas press. His attitude has helped fuel the perception of texans as trigger-happy retards, or criminally-insane bounty hunters and repo-men.

I would also point out that, along with a high ratio of gun ownership (~50% of all homes statewide contain a gun), Texas has the lowest rate of "home invasions" in the nation.

Likewise, Texas DPS/Highway patrol, and rural police tend to be especially polite, since about half of all cars in rural areas contain a firearm as well. If you've ever been stopped by state police in Massachussetts or another anti-gun state, you'll instantly notice the disdain cops there have for tax payers.

Concealed Carry Permits
For $200 dollars plus instructor fees, you can take a 6-week course and be certified to carry a concealed pistol. There are extensive background checks, and I think they register the gun you train with, although you are permitted for any pistol in the same category (revolver or semiauto). You also have to get the sheriff's permission.

In addition, because of the background check, you are allowed to buy guns without any waiting period (although they'll check to see if you're wanted).

Since the program was implemented 10 years ago, there have only been 4 cases of a permit-holder being charged with misuse of a pistol. All 4 have been found guilty and sentenced. There are probably 100,000 Texans with permits.

When I last worked in Law enforcement, CCP-holders were much more accurate with their weapons than police themselves. I think your odds of being shot by a stray bullet from a cop was like, 11%. While a bullet from a CCP-holder hit a buystander about 4% of the time.

There have been about 10 cases in 10 years where an officer was being assaulted by criminals, and a CCP-holder came to the defense of police, and either drove off the attackers, or helped arrest them.

Also, in the Two Texas episodes where someone went "postal," private gun-owners either shot the perp (at the Luby's in Garland Texas), or fired back at the assailant and forced him to take cover and quit shooting people ( the University of TX in 1967).

In response to someone who posted that you could kill people in rural areas: this is the main reason why eveyone is armed out in the sticks. Where the police have a 2-hour response time, it's up to you to fend off any attackers. Imagine what it is like to live where there are no police---you'd be fairly paranoid, too. And own some good dogs, as well.
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