One of the questions we get fairly often is "when you can legally carry a weapon?"
Generally, when we're talking about weapons we're talking about firearms. But the actual statute covers several different things. Just the firearm or a handgun being the one that we
most commonly see. The law is that you can basically, carry a weapon legally on or have a weapon legally in two places:
One is your house or wherever you're living.
And the other is in a motor, vehicle or a boat or either while you're going to, or from that.
So, you can have a weapon at your house and you're fine. Most people think that's pretty obvious. You can also have a weapon in your vehicle and be fine. And that's whether you have a license to carry or not.
There are, or at least there's one big exception to that. And that is, it is unlawful or illegal to carry a weapon or have a weapon in a vehicle if you're engaged in some other criminal activity, other than a class C ticket. Generally, we see that in DWI cases. So, someone's pulled over for driving while intoxicated. There's a weapon in the car. Legally, you can have that weapon but because you're intoxicated, you can't, because that's another criminal offense. So, you can end up with two charges. Sometimes, we can see that in evading arrest cases too or somebody is evading arrest in a vehicle. They get a charge for that and they get a charge for a weapon also.
So, those are the two or really the big exception is that you can have your weapon or a weapon in those places. Anywhere else you're going to be committing an offense unless you actually have a license to carry. So, if you're out and about, if you're in any other location other than a vehicle, or rather than on your premises, you're going to be in violation of the law.
And you're going to have committed a misdemeanor offense that could potentially land you in jail.
As always, if you have any questions about this, if you run into any problems, or if you have this particular issue, please give us a call. We're always here to help and always happy to answer any questions.
Contact a Waco Criminal Defense Attorney
I understand how lost and scared you must feel right now. That is only natural when you're facing criminal prosecution in Texas. Whether you're still weighing your options or you're ready to obtain proper legal representation, call a Waco criminal defense lawyer at the Law Office of Walter Reaves at 254-781-3588 today for a free consultation.
