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51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 8:47 am
by mrvmax
I'm in Corpus Christi at Spohn due to my father in law being in ICU. I got there late last night and I coudl have sworn I saw a 30.06 sign with a 51. I went by real quickly, so I will take a better look today and snap a picture if I can. I gues they got mixed up with the wording of 411.204 and never read section (b). The 30.06 was not in compliance anyway. If I can get a pic I'll post it when I get back home later this week.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:06 am
by seamusTX
IMHO, GC 411.204 became obsolete when PC 46.035(i) was enacted, but the Lege did not remove it. You're going to see all kinds of obsolete and incorrect signage, probably forever.

I can't say this enough times: Concealed means concealed, and if it ain't concealed, you're gonna be in trouble, whether it's a hospital, convenience store, or taco stand.

I am not a lawyer. This is just my opinion.

I offered a prayer for your father-in-law. I guess the Lord can figure out screen names.

- Jim

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:12 am
by Keith B
mrvmax wrote:I'm in Corpus Christi at Spohn due to my father in law being in ICU. I got there late last night and I coudl have sworn I saw a 30.06 sign with a 51. I went by real quickly, so I will take a better look today and snap a picture if I can. I gues they got mixed up with the wording of 411.204 and never read section (b). The 30.06 was not in compliance anyway. If I can get a pic I'll post it when I get back home later this week.
Under the old code, GC ยง411.204. NOTICE REQUIRED ON CERTAIN PREMISES stated the sign had to be posted
(b) A hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
or a nursing home licensed under Chapter 242, Health and Safety
Code, shall prominently display at each entrance to the hospital or
nursing home, as appropriate, a sign that complies with the requirements
of Subsection (c) other than the requirement that the sign
include on its face the number "51".
(c) The sign required under Subsections (a) and (b) must give
notice in both English and Spanish that it is unlawful for a person
licensed under this subchapter to carry a handgun on the premises.
The sign must appear in contrasting colors with block letters at least
one inch in height and must include on its face the number "51" printed
in solid red at least five inches in height. The sign shall be displayed in
a conspicuous manner clearly visible to the public.

So a few hospitals posted these signs, but included the 51% in error.

Under the new laws, it has to be a proper 30.06 posted.

HOWEVER, depending on the local police department and the hospital, they may feel that is adequate notice and if you are outted, arrest you (or at minimum give you verbal notice.)

In other words, you may beat the rap but not the ride if they want to try and detain you over it.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:21 am
by seamusTX
Keith B wrote:... you may beat the rap but not the ride if they want to try and detain you over it.
I think this outcome is quite likely. And if the DA is in a bad mood, you might have to get an attorney to defend you through preliminary hearings, which could ruin your vacation plans.

Hospital personnel are rightfully concerned about people who bring weapons into hospitals. There have been too many incidents of gang members taking their fights into hospitals, and family members who don't get along having confrontations in patients' rooms (I actually was present when one of these occurred).

- Jim

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:46 am
by longtooth
Until about 2002, Woodland Heights Hospital here in Lufkin had a big 51 on the sign on their main enterance.
I always :smilelol5: "rlol" as I walked through the door.

Today they have the ghost buster. If wife is w/ me she always says, "you arent carrying a Baretta 92 are you."
No Maam.
Wife- me neither. :thumbs2: :rolll

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:34 am
by flintknapper
longtooth wrote:Until about 2002, Woodland Heights Hospital here in Lufkin had a big 51 on the sign on their main enterance.
I always :smilelol5: "rlol" as I walked through the door.

Today they have the ghost buster. If wife is w/ me she always says, "you arent carrying a Baretta 92 are you."
No Maam.
Wife- me neither. :thumbs2: :rolll
:mrgreen:

Yeah, I never figured out what so many establishments have against the Beretta 92!

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:09 am
by bdickens
seamusTX wrote:Hospital personnel are rightfully concerned about people who bring weapons into hospitals. There have been too many incidents of gang members taking their fights into hospitals, and family members who don't get along having confrontations in patients' rooms (I actually was present when one of these occurred).
- Jim
All the more reason why you should carry inside a hospital.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:28 am
by seamusTX
To put the issue into perspective, I worry more about the parking lot than inside the hospital. Most big-city hospitals are in dodgy neighborhoods.

Assaults that occur within hospitals are generally between people who have some kind of ongoing dispute. The one that I witnessed was between two male relatives of a patient who started shouting and shoving, and ended up getting the chrome-plated bracelet treatment.

- Jim

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:30 am
by Morgan
I'm not legal to carry yet, but if anyone asks me if I'm carrying when I go by a ghostbuster sign, I'll reply, "I'm obeying that sign to the full extent that the law requires." :tiphat:

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:41 am
by seamusTX
I have never been asked if I was armed. If it happens, it is perfectly legal to lie to anyone except a LEO.

If a LEO guarding a hospital thinks you are carrying a weapon, you are most likely going up against the wall with no opportunity to talk.

The hospital that I am most familiar with is UTMB Galveston. It contains a Texas Department of Corrections wing. I have seen prisoners shackled to wheelchairs being wheeled around the "civilian" parts of the hospital. You can bet those guards would be very unhappy with the possibility of someone trying to "spring" one of these prisoners.

- Jim

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:45 am
by Morgan
seamusTX wrote:I have never been asked if I was armed. If it happens, it is perfectly legal to lie to anyone except a LEO.

- Jim
I was commenting about the guy who had the conversation about his 92 with his wife.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 12:18 pm
by seamusTX
My wife can frisk me if she wants to know, but she rarely does. We never talk about it.

There's so much bogus signage that I don't notice it any longer unless I make an effort to look for it. I've seen signs that were at least 10 years out-of-date and maybe 20 or 30 years old by the look of them.

- Jim

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 1:13 pm
by mrvmax
I just left my 1911 in the car to be on the safe side. I m relying upon situation awareness and my knife.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:29 pm
by Liberty
seamusTX wrote:I have never been asked if I was armed. If it happens, it is perfectly legal to lie to anyone except a LEO.

If a LEO guarding a hospital thinks you are carrying a weapon, you are most likely going up against the wall with no opportunity to talk.

The hospital that I am most familiar with is UTMB Galveston. It contains a Texas Department of Corrections wing. I have seen prisoners shackled to wheelchairs being wheeled around the "civilian" parts of the hospital. You can bet those guards would be very unhappy with the possibility of someone trying to "spring" one of these prisoners.

- Jim
Supposedly beacuse it is a school (University of Texas Medical Branch) they have some standing for being illegal to carry.

Re: 51 sign at a hospital?

Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:39 pm
by seamusTX
I agree that UTMB hospital can be considered a school. I suspect the cops who work there (they have their own police force) and the DA would agree.

- Jim