going out for dinner and having one drink

[txinvestigator]

The law defines intoxication and makes carrying while intoxicated a crime. But, one drink into a 185-lb man gives him a BAL of about .03.

Negative. If he has that drink in an hour, he will have a BAC of approximately .002%.



Even if he slams that drink, at his peak he will not get close to .03%

[WildBill]

The law defines intoxication and makes carrying while intoxicated a crime. But, one drink into a 185-lb man gives him a BAL of about .03.

Negative. If he has that drink in an hour, he will have a BAC of approximately .002%.
Even if he slams that drink, at his peak he will not get close to .03%

TXi - I think your calculator is off by a factor of 10. I think its 0.02%
http://www.onlinedmv.com/TX_drivers_manual.html

[txinvestigator]

The law defines intoxication and makes carrying while intoxicated a crime. But, one drink into a 185-lb man gives him a BAL of about .03.

Negative. If he has that drink in an hour, he will have a BAC of approximately .002%.
Even if he slams that drink, at his peak he will not get close to .03%

TXi - I think your calculator is off by a factor of 10. I think its 0.02%
http://www.onlinedmv.com/TX_drivers_manual.html

Did you see this under the chart? "Subtract .01% for each 40 minutes of drinking"

A healthy liver eliminates about .015% BAC per hour. I use another source to estimate BAC, and it is not a chart, it makes allowances for each pound, and for male/female, as well as the type and amount of alcohol in the drinks. It is the most accurate I have found.

http://www.intox.com/wheel/drinkwheel.asp

[WildBill]

I have seen this calculator. I didn't read close enough, ie one hour. According to your calculator, slamming the drink [.01hrs] will raise the alcohol level to 0.025%.

[aardwolf]

That girl needs a 51% sign on her forehead.

She looks like she can easily spend more than 51% of my income.

[frankie_the_yankee]

One drink, no problem for anyone with a normal response to alcohol. I enjoy a beer or glass of wine with dinner. It's fully legal. I would never leave my gun at home because I might have a drink.

For that matter, neither I nor the law has any problem with someone (again, who has a normal alcohol response) driving after having one drink.

Some people have moral or religious objections to drinking and that's fine by me. I am just stating my own preferences and how they square with the law.

[TDDude]

It may be "legal" to have only one drink but if anything happens, a cival attorney will kill you in court no matter what the law states.

I haven't looked it up but both the instructors I had said it was a "0" tolerance policy in Texas.

If you are going to carry, just don't drink anything buzzy.

[anygunanywhere]

It may be "legal" to have only one drink but if anything happens, a civil attorney will kill you in court no matter what the law states.

Maybe, maybe not with the new stand your ground law. Legal justification does not change after one drink. You must know your abilities and limits before you strap on the weapon irregardless of your alcohol intake.

Being "killed" in civil court, although unpleasant, might be considered a better alternative than you or your loved ones being killed or maimed by a BG.

You do not give up your right to self defense after one drink.

Anygun

[TX Rancher]

I haven't looked it up but both the instructors I had said it was a "0" tolerance policy in Texas.

I wish I had a dollar for everytime an instructor made a comment that can't be backed-up

[frankie_the_yankee]

It may be "legal" to have only one drink but if anything happens, a cival attorney will kill you in court no matter what the law states.

How and why would that be?

We always hear statements like this as in, "If you do 'X', you can get sued big time." But where's the beef?

Show me someone who was sued and lost, after doing a "good shoot", because at some time before the shooting they had had one drink. Note: Not just someone who was sued and lost. Someone who lost after a good shoot, (i.e. not after a questionable or bad shoot), because they had one drink.

I haven't looked it up but both the instructors I had said it was a "0" tolerance policy in Texas.

You seem to have bad luck in picking out instructors. In two out of two tries, you seem to have hooked up with instructors who are either badly informed or who sometimes prefer to preach their own opinions instead of providing their students with accurate information.

I have had two instructors too. My first one did a good job and stuck to the facts. The second one was one of these preachy blowhard types, IMO, who seemed to enjoy showering the class with his sometimes-strange opinions as to what was correct and what was not. This included but was not limited to the drinking issue. He also had some opinions, presented as "facts" about the legal boundaries of lawful self defense, 30.06 signage, etc., that were at odds what I have read or otherwise come to know about from many other sources far better-informed than he.

I took issue with him a few times when he said something particularly egregious, but in the end I decided to just get through the renewal class as quickly as possible and forget about it. (I was successful at the first, not so with the second.)

From the DPS website FAQ.

Q. Can I carry a handgun if I am drinking alcohol?

A. "Carrying" while drinking is not prohibited, but it is a criminal offense to carry while intoxicated.

If someone wants to give up their rights to armed self defense because they intend to have a beer, or forego having a beer because they are carrying and it would make them uncomfortable, etc., that's fine by me.

But I ain't gonna do it because I don't want to and I don't have to.

And neither does anyone else have to if they don't want to.

[WildBill]

If someone wants to give up their rights to armed self defense because they intend to have a beer, or forego having a beer because they are carrying and it would make them uncomfortable, etc., that's fine by me.
But I ain't gonna do it because I don't want to and I don't have to.
And neither does anyone else have to if they don't want to.

Too bad you live so far, I'd like to discuss that with you sometime.

[locknload]

Well .... as an infamous ex-Pres. once said, "It depends on what "is" is."

I've had a couple of very painful auto accidents, and I get muscle spasms from time to time, because of degenerative discs and sciatic nerve damage, especially late in the afternoon, after working or walking all day. Therefore, DH takes me out to dine, and I get something sweet that doesn't taste like alcohol ... hard to find. Because I always have at least one ulcer from the meds, it goes straight to my bloodstream. I believe that I would actually read "intoxicated" from one drink, if I were tested, even though I weigh close to 200#. One drink, relaxes the muscle spasm and is immediate pain relief, without the harsh side effects of pain meds, but I always have DH as my designated driver and shooter.

IMHO - One drink shouldn't get one drunk, but it depends upon the health condition of the drunk ... er, drinker!

[frankie_the_yankee]

Well .... as an infamous ex-Pres. once said, "It depends on what "is" is."

I've had a couple of very painful auto accidents, and I get muscle spasms from time to time, because of degenerative discs and sciatic nerve damage, especially late in the afternoon, after working or walking all day. Therefore, DH takes me out to dine, and I get something sweet that doesn't taste like alcohol ... hard to find. Because I always have at least one ulcer from the meds, it goes straight to my bloodstream. I believe that I would actually read "intoxicated" from one drink, if I were tested, even though I weigh close to 200#. One drink, relaxes the muscle spasm and is immediate pain relief, without the harsh side effects of pain meds, but I always have DH as my designated driver and shooter.

IMHO - One drink shouldn't get one drunk, but it depends upon the health condition of the drunk ... er, drinker!

Absolutely. And there are always exceptions to every rule.

My comments were intended to apply to someone who has a more or less normal or typical response to alcohol.

One should never drive or carry while intoxicated, no matter how much or how little alcohol is involved.

One drink will not get a person with a normal/typical alcohol response intoxicated, or any where near it.

[txinvestigator]

I haven't looked it up but both the instructors I had said it was a "0" tolerance policy in Texas.

I wish I had a dollar for everytime an instructor made a comment that can't be backed-up

NO KIDDING.

[locknload]

Absolutely. And there are always exceptions to every rule.

My comments were intended to apply to someone who has a more or less normal or typical response to alcohol.

One should never drive or carry while intoxicated, no matter how much or how little alcohol is involved.

One drink will not get a person with a normal/typical alcohol response intoxicated, or any where near it.

Understood, and I agree. But I have a question and a concern. Having known [far distant past, before marriage to DH] a guy that didn't know his limit, I saw that he was not a good judge of whether or not he was intoxicated, nor did he possess the self-control to stop at just one drink.

Oh, never mind. On second thought, I would assume that, if one could obtain a CHL, that weakness probably wouldn't be a concern, as the true drunks would have weeded themselves out through DUI's, etc., before the CHL was issued. Right?

Anyway, that very possibility is why I err on the side of caution and don't drink and carry or drive. Maybe, I'm just too cautious, but what I would lose, if I got myself in trouble is more of a risk than I personally am willing to take. So, I get from what you are saying that it's an individual choice that we can't make for another. Good point.