Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 341
An important exception lives in Texas Penal Code Section 46.15(b)
(6), which provides criminal street gang members a means of
avoiding prosecution under Texas Penal Code Section 46.04(a-1)
for having a handgun in a vehicle or watercraft as long as they were
carrying pursuant to a valid LTC.
Members of criminal street gangs are prohibited from possessing a
handgun in their vehicle or watercraft even though they may not be
otherwise committing a crime. Strangely enough, this prohibition
does not extend to an otherwise legal constitutional carrier who is
a criminal street gang member from carrying a handgun concealed
or openly in a holster outside of their motor vehicle or watercraft
(e.g., on a public sidewalk).
Is it legal for an owner of a vehicle to possess a handgun when
a passenger in the vehicle is a felon or is otherwise disqualified
from possessing firearms?
Yes, so long as the felon (or person disqualified) never possesses
the firearm. The law focuses on who has possession, defined as
“actual care, custody, control, and management.” See Tex. Penal
Code § 1.07(39).
EXAMPLE:
Charles arrives at the McDonald’s in Huntsville to pick up his
brother Jamie, who is being released from prison. Charles always
keeps a handgun under the driver seat of his vehicle. When Jamie
gets in the car, he sits in the front passenger seat.
Has Charles violated the law? No, Charles still has possession
of the handgun. It is a crime to affirmatively give a handgun to
a disqualified individual—like a felon—but it is not a crime to
possess a handgun around such an individual.
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