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by Penn
Fri Nov 16, 2007 5:26 pm
Forum: New to CHL?
Topic: concealed, yes no?
Replies: 49
Views: 9675

GrillKing wrote:
Liberty wrote:The law is clear that the gun needs to concealed. There is no mention of holsters.
Liberty,

I agree, the law is clear that it needs to be concealed, but not on what concealed is.

§ 411.171. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

3) "Concealed handgun" means a handgun, the presence
of which is not openly discernible to the ordinary observation of a
reasonable person.


If a 'reasonable' cop arrests you and a 'reasonable' jury says it wasn't concealed, for all practical purposes it wasn't concealed, regardless whether we or anybody not on the jury thinks otherwise.

We can argue that the gun itself wasn't exposed, but the law doesn't appear to me to say the gun has to be exposed, just that it's presence (ambiguous) is openly discernable to the ordinary (ambiguous) observation of a reasonable (ambiguous) person.

Similarly, a tight T-shirt over a firearm would likely invite unwanted attention. Is the firearm itself exposed? No. Are you going to get attention you don't want? Possibly. However, perhaps for some strange reason it is a plastic practice weapon or an airsoft gun, not illegal I don't think. IMHO, a reasonable person with ordinary observation would think it's a gun, the real thing.

Yes, the continous visibility of the tip of a holster may technically not be in violation, but if someone calls the police, and find the holster isn't empty, you MAY be in trouble.
I always took "reasonable" person to mean non-law enforcement. Reasonable being a synonym for average. I don't think the law means law-enforcement types when it refers to "reasonable" as they are able to identify simple printing as a hand-gun and the general consensus here is that that is not illegal.

Also, depending on the cant of that pistol, you might be able to see the barrel out of the bottom of the holster.

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