Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 323
M. Open government meetings
WEAPONS PROHIBITED AT ROOMS OF AN OPEN GOVERNMENT
MEETING
TEX. PENAL CODE § 46.03(a)(14)
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally,
knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm,
location-restricted knife, club, or prohibited weapon listed in
Section 46.05(a):
(14) in the room or rooms where a meeting of a governmental
entity is held, if the meeting is an open meeting subject
to Chapter 551, Government Code, and if the entity
provided notice as required by that chapter; ...
Just like the prohibition on carrying in hospitals, nursing facilities,
and amusement parks, a non-license holder may not carry into a
governmental meeting subject to the open meetings law. This same
prohibition does not apply to LTC holders even if the governmental
entity attempts to exclude the license holder with Texas Penal Code
Sections 30.06 and/or 30.07 notice. This means that an LTC holder
is permitted to carry at a city council meeting or other meetings of
governmental entities in locations that are not otherwise prohibited
(e.g., school, office utilized by court, etc.).
This law applies only to “open meetings” where the government
has complied with all notices required by the Texas open meetings
law. In other words, the state agency could not claim every meeting
was an open meeting in order to prohibit handguns carried by
non-LTC holders from all governmental meetings.
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