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Can anyone direct me to the laws referring to the carrying of a firearm in a DOT regulated vehicle?......ie..a tow truck....

Many people strongly claim that it is illegal but cant show proof. I know that I had to pull my pistol on a guy several months ago (while I was driving a wrecker) and the cops said nothing to me about it and in fact told the guy I pulled it on that he certainly could have been legally shot. Again I had another problem that led to the cops being called out and I was disarmed "for the officers safety" but other than that my pistol never come into play or was even known about. //side note.....I was not to happy about being disarmed in view of the ppl I had called the cops on. They did call my work about it but due to my boss believing it to be illegal, they did not believe them .


Please no Personal Opinions or hearsay. I need the proof of the written law.

Thanks

To the best of my knowledge, there is no state law on this subject. I have been told it is in the federal DOT Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, but no one has ever shown me a copy of it. Since I have found where the sfaety regs prohibit things like radar detectors in trucks but cannot find this, I can only assume that this is an old urban legend. It may be a carry over from the days before CHL when people thought of trucks as interstate and the carrying of a weapon across state lines was plainly illegal (other than in luggage).

My suggestion would be to write to the DPS and ask them for the legal citation. If it exists, they would know.

Target1911 wrote: Please no Personal Opinions or hearsay. I need the proof of the written law.

Thanks

When there is no laws on it then it is allowed. You will have trouble finding written law that will state that you can carry in a given D.O.T regulated Vehicle. There have been some discussions on this forum concerning truckers who carry, and their biggest concern was unfriendly state.

You will have the same rights to carry as you do in a privately owned and used Vehicle. You can carry under the New auto carry law, or your CHL. There maybe be local restrictions built into the city contract if you work on a city next out contract.

Thanks for the replies.
I am not "interstate" and we dont do City contract.

I've been in the transportation safety field for over 20 years and this urban myth was around a lot longer than me. All DOT vehicles (>10,001 lbs) are covered by CFR 49 Parts 100 through 999. The first section 100-200 covers HAZMAT, second 300 - 399 covers the operation of motor vehicles, the last 400 - 999 cover required items (also known as the federal motor vehicle safety standards). In none of the sections are prohibitions against firearms mentioned. As for those operating just under intrastate authority, while most of the states have a few additions regarding medical requirements, age, starting size of vehicle, etc., all have adopted the Federal standards by reference as the governing standard. Here's a link to the FMCSA and TXDPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/lw/index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope this helps

My brother has been an OTR truck driver for the past 10 years. He has had his CHL for 4 of those years and carries all the time in his truck. He has been stopped by DOT, Border Patrol, State police and others for routine stops / inspections, and not once has an officer had an issue with him carrying. In non reciprocity states he field strips his weapon and locks it &the ammo up in separate boxes - police in Illinois were O.K. with this. (The officer at the stop in Illinois, after seeing my brothers CHL, indicated he would have had no issue if he had been carrying - even though it is illegal under IL law! )

So, although IANAL, based on my brothers experience Id say carry away provided your in a state that recognizes TX's CHL.

I thought it was a myth. It is amazing how many ppl are very strong on the belief that it is illegal

Jason73 wrote:My brother has been an OTR truck driver for the past 10 years. He has had his CHL for 4 of those years and carries all the time in his truck. He has been stopped by DOT, Border Patrol, State police and others for routine stops / inspections, and not once has an officer had an issue with him carrying. In non reciprocity states he field strips his weapon and locks it &the ammo up in separate boxes - police in Illinois were O.K. with this. (The officer at the stop in Illinois, after seeing my brothers CHL, indicated he would have had no issue if he had been carrying - even though it is illegal under IL law! )

So, although IANAL, based on my brothers experience Id say carry away provided your in a state that recognizes TX's CHL.

No Federal law against carrying in a truck.

Your brother must have been in Southern Illinois during that check. Probably at the Brownstown scales on 70. There are 2 Illinois's. North Illinois and South Illinois. North Illinois is ran by Chicago and your typical leftist elitist society or privelage. South Illinois is pretty down to earth and likes their guns. I know when I go back to visit family, I'll show my CHL to some officer friends and they like it and wish Illinois would hurry up and get on the bandwagon.

In fact, there's an issue on the ballot in 17 counties about the pursuing concealed carry in Illinois. Whodathunkit from Barackistan.

Target1911 wrote:I thought it was a myth. It is amazing how many people are very strong on the belief that it is illegal

On rumor starts and it spreads fast...