LOL wrote:If the gun is locked away out of my reach in my gun vault, tethered to the rear bench seat, am I technically "carrying" or does the position of the gun and myself constitute "not carrying" for the sake of avoiding a violation of CHL law?
I have always been taught that being in a locked compartment, such as the glove box, would make the pistol not "on or about your person". But i went looking for a better source and did not find mention of the locked compartment. What I did find was a lot of cases where specific locations were ruled either way, dating back to horses and saddlebags or buggies. Most of the modern cases referred to the definition given in Wagner v. State. It was decided in 1916 and it said:
This would almost definitely make a box chained to the rear bench seat not carrying. Some of the cases cited in this decision mentioned the rear of buggies, or the front of buggies away from the person. Without going into the intoxication laws (where I agree on what has been said - legal to drive is legal to carry), this should put your mind at ease on your lockbox location.The Legislature must have meant something when it used the words 'or about the person,' and on principle using the word 'about' in its ordinary meaning, taking into consideration the context and subject matter relative to which it is employed, the word, not being specially defined, must, as we believe, be held to mean, within the pistol statute, near by, close at hand, convenient of access, and within such distance of the party so having it as that such party could without materially changing his position get his hand on it;