so what happens if I forget my wallet and I get pulled over?

[mr.stuart]

If you forget your CHL: Take your gun apart and throw it out the window OR: when you are stopped,ask the cop why he/she has a gun and ask for his/her CHL OR:jump out of the car and run down the street screaming. Bad Idea's?YES!If I carry a gun,I ALWAYS pick up my wallet and look to make certain that CHL is in it.If you can remember the gun,you can remember the license.

[Stupid]

Simply put, do not get pulled over!!! How hard is that? I have been doing that since the day I got my driver's license 10+ years ago and I have been driving in 3 different countries. The only times I were pulled over, I were just the passenger.

Second thing is as soon as you realize that you forget your license, immediately stop and put your gun in the trunk.

If you only realize that you forget your license after you are pulled over, just be super polite and hope for the best.

Also, Keep Chas' phone# handy.

It wouldn't hurt to make a photocopy of both your DL and CHL and keep it over the visor with your insurance information.

[seamusTX]

Simply put, do not get pulled over!!! How hard is that?

You can be required to produce ID by circumstances outside your control. Probably the most likely example is being rear-ended.

- Jim

[frankie_the_yankee]

I amy be the odd man out (Again!) but If I was out and about (and carrying) and realized that I had accidently left my ID wallet at home, or lost it, I would just go on about my business.

If I got stopped, I would declare, explain what happened, and accept the result. If I ended up getting fined or whatever, it would simply be "my bad".

Life goes on.

I certainly wouldn't take the chance of making a spectacle of myself by pulling over, unloading, and stuffing my gun in the trunk. Suppose some passerby see me doing THAT?

"This is 9-1-1. State the nature of your emergency please."

"I'm on SH71 westbound in Del Valle. I just saw a guy putting what looked like a handgun in the trunk of his car. He was pulled over near the post office. He's middle aged, fat and bald. He's driving a red Toyota Camry, license# TX XYZ 999."

"Thank you sir. We'll get right on it."

"Unit 99 Dispatch."

"Dispatch Unit 99."

"Be on the lookout for a red Toyota Camry TX XYZ 999 westbound SH71 near the Del Valle post office. Man reported to be putting a handgun in the trunk of the car."

"10-4. Any backup available?"

Nope. Not me. I'd just play it cool until I got back home.

THEN I would stop carrying until I could either find or get replacement DL and CHL.

[Liberty]

A couple of years ago, I forgot my wallet and did not realize until I was 15 minutes away from the house.

I pulled over and put my pistol in the trunk of my car and it stayed there until I got back home.

If you are stopped in Harris County carrying a pistol with out a CHL, you are going to jail according to the DA.

While the DA is anxious to to prosecute, I believe that many police officers, departments and deputy sheriffs aren' real willing to test the prosecuters legal theory. I would be very careful, but I don't think going to jail is a slam dunk while travelling in Harris county.

[Jacob Staff]

A couple of years ago, I forgot my wallet and did not realize until I was 15 minutes away from the house.

I pulled over and put my pistol in the trunk of my car and it stayed there until I got back home.

If you are stopped in Harris County carrying a pistol with out a CHL, you are going to jail according to the DA.

While the DA is anxious to to prosecute, I believe that many police officers, departments and deputy sheriffs aren' real willing to test the prosecuters legal theory. I would be very careful, but I don't think going to jail is a slam dunk while travelling in Harris county.

Keith Patton of Katy was arrested in February.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-04-19/ ... -unloaded/

Just to be on the safe side, he told the officer he had an unloaded gun in his car. No ammunition anywhere, just an unloaded .357 Magnum.

The result: 27 hours in jail and about $2,100 in fees and attorney's costs.
...

Prosecutors around the state, however, believed the law was unclear. The policy in many areas became to arrest someone for carrying a gun in the car and let prosecutors decide whether to charge them or not.

[dihappy]

All that said, don't forget your wallet. If you can remember your gun, you should most certainly be able to remember your wallet. If this is troublesome for you, make it part of your routine to always pat your wallet when you put on your gun - whatever it takes to make sure the two are always connected.

the weapon pretty much stays in the console of my vehicle and I had just come home from work, changed and was at the driving range when I noticed I didn't have my wallet

I just didn't know what to do if I got pulled over on the way back to the house (4 miles away)

Thanks all

If you leave your weapon in the car, leave your wallet in the car too :)

[jimlongley]

"Be on the lookout for a red Toyota Camry TX XYZ 999 westbound SH71 near the Del Valle post office. Man reported to be putting a handgun in the trunk of the car."

"10-4. Any backup available?"

Nope. Not me. I'd just play it cool until I got back home.

THEN I would stop carrying until I could either find or get replacement DL and CHL.

OK, but when you put the gun in the trunk you are no longer carrying it "under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's person" You are really just transporting it.

What happened to Keith Patton was just slightly different, the gun was close enough for him to reach it, and although unloaded and he apparantly had no ammo for it, that could be "reasonably" considered to be "about" his person.

I have mentioned that one of my hobbies these days is listening to a scanner and most of the "man with a gun" calls I hear these days are closed out at "UTL" (unable to locate) or "GOA" (gone on arrival) and the only one I can recall where they actually caught the guy, it was a man with an airsoft gun chasing Grackels in his own yard, but I never heard the resolution.

[cxm]

I asked this very question at the last CHL Instructors course...

The somewhat crumudgeonly DPS Senior Sergent teaching that segment of the class replied she expected the officer would file on you for failing to display your license as required... which of course is a 90 day suspension of license.

She also said the fact you are licensed is easily confirmed, so the complaint would be failure to display.

Anyway, her opinion is something... and better than mine.

FWIW

Chuck

[TEX]

I like the idea of carrying a copy of both your TDL and CHL in your vehicle. I always ask my insurance agent for an extra copy of my insurance card and keep it in a little pocket on the visor. I think I shall do the same for my TDL and CHL. I am not sure just how much it will help, but at least its something. I suspect that with most cops you might not have a problem anyway unless they were having a particularly nasty day. I was stopped very early (3am) on a Sunday morning on my way to work one day, for not putting on my turn signal at a four-way stop. There was no one around and you could not see another set of head light from horizon to horizon, so I asked officer exactly who the turn signal would have been for. He mumbled something about 100’ feet before the intersection, etc. Well anyway it turned out he was fishing for late night drunks. I gave him my TDL, CHL and insurance card. He went back and, I guess, ran them. He returned and then thanked me for giving him the CHL without having to be asked for it. I was stunned, and asked if that was unusual. He replied that over the last couple of years he had stop a number of CHL holders who had failed to display their CHL at the time he asked for their TDL. I explained to him that now they don’t have to show unless they are actually carrying. He said he knew that, but that theses folks were carrying their firearms. He said he approached every vehicle assuming there is a gun present anyway. He went on to say that he didn’t want to make any trouble for them (CHL holders) specifically because there is no limit on the two failures to display (one in 1996 and one in 2075) count as two under the present law. Apparently this cop had a pretty good grasp of the CHL laws, which I have found to be a bit unusual. He never wrote me a ticket. He said he doesn’t ticket CHL holders unless they are really screwing up. 20+mph over, running red lights deliberately or driving around stopped school buses. This guy was Fort Bend County Sheriffs office in probably his late 20s or early 30s. I think most cops view CHL holders as one of the good guys and here in my area at least 3 times that I can remember, police officers have had their fat pulled from the fire by citizens with guns, so maybe some realize this possible benefit. I have had my CHL since the inception of the program and I am pretty sure that it had gotten me out of at least 3 tickets since then.

[Greybeard]

Quote: "I have had my CHL since the inception of the program and I am pretty sure that it had gotten me out of at least 3 tickets since then."

Same here. And several students back for CHL renewal classes have told me similar. Most "street cops" do realize that CHLers are generally "certified good guys" (and girls ) and if there is any slack to be cut, will often do so - if they too are initially shown courtesy and respect.

[bizjet]

I got stopped for speeding yesterday. Showed the LEO my CHL and told him where my gun was. He said, "I don't care where it is, if you have one of these (CHL) you're ok." He then wrote me up for 15 over. Nuts.

Regards

[hi-power]

He then wrote me up for 15 over. Nuts.

Two words: James Mallory.

[bizjet]

Who is James Mallory?

Regards

[hi-power]

Who is James Mallory?

He's a lawyer in Fort Worth who represents folks who get traffic citations. I'll PM you more info.