Handgun Storage in Automobile?

[Cap'n]

What are TX's LEGAL REQUIREMENTS per subject?

I can't find any mention in TX statutes or on this website.

I have my CHL.

Is locked car adequate? Locked car + locked glove box or console? (I understand this would not deter a thief.)

If carrying an auto, can I unload the weapon and carry the ammo AND magazine with me into a 30.06 area? (This would at least defeat a thief's immediate ability to use the stolen gun -- until he provided the right kind of mag and ammo.)

Darned if I didn't forget to bring up these questions during my CHL renewal.

Many thanks.

P.S. This is for what-if scenarios as I can generally avoid 30.06 venues.

[powerboatr]

I am sure someone will paste the exact verbiage.
But i installed a small safe in the truck that is bolted to the frame and unless you torch the safe, it is pretty secure. plus if you don't no where its located...it is out of immediate sight. PLus its easy to get to while sitting in the front and no one outside the truck would ever know what is going on.
I am not a fan of simply locking it in a glove box or under the seat. vehicles are just to easy to get into and then the firearm is easy access to the perpetrator and they could use it to kill others.

long guns
I have a nice secure box in the bed that is low and unobtrusive, plus it takes two locks to defeat the integrity of the box, one requires a serious setup to defeat the tumbler, and hopefully a passer by would notice the noise and tools.

[snorri]

I am sure someone will paste the exact verbiage.

There's nothing to paste in general. There's 46.13 but locking the car looks sufficient and (c)(3) is an affirmative defense even if it's unlocked. There's also the parking lot law but that's about the employer-employee relationship, not criminal activity.

[Jumping Frog]

What are TX's LEGAL REQUIREMENTS per subject?

Addressing handguns, requirements are:

• the handgun remains concealed
• the person is not engaged in criminal activity, other than a Class C misdemeanor that is a violation of a law or ordinance regulating traffic
• the person is not prohibited by law from possessing a firearm
• the person is not a member of a criminal street gang

[K.Mooneyham]

To the best of my knowledge, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from carrying around a loaded magazine in your pocket, 30.06 or not. A loaded magazine is not a concealed handgun any more than a spark plug is a car engine, both are just parts.

[bizarrenormality]

To the best of my knowledge, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from carrying around a loaded magazine in your pocket, 30.06 or not. A loaded magazine is not a concealed handgun any more than a spark plug is a car engine, both are just parts.

Sure, but an unloaded handgun is still a handgun subject to Texas laws regarding carry and possession. The only thing I can see an unloaded gun avoiding is the safe storage requirements around kids. Any employer that would fire you for having a gun could do the same for having ammunition.

[K.Mooneyham]

To the best of my knowledge, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from carrying around a loaded magazine in your pocket, 30.06 or not. A loaded magazine is not a concealed handgun any more than a spark plug is a car engine, both are just parts.

Sure, but an unloaded handgun is still a handgun subject to Texas laws regarding carry and possession. The only thing I can see an unloaded gun avoiding is the safe storage requirements around kids, and any employer that would fire you for having a gun could do the same for having ammunition.

I believe the OP asked if he could take the magazine out of the handgun, leave the handgun in the vehicle, and then go into a location posted 30.06 having only the loaded magazine on his person. I may have misread the OP, but that is how I understood it.

[tommyg]

Do Not press your luck if there is a valid sign respect it and take your busisness some place else

The Brady bunch wants incidents do not give them any

[Cap'n]

As the OP, I don't know if I learned anything new, but I do thank folks for trying to help.

My concern was whether I had any additional legal obligations beyond locking my car (with EDC gun) when having to enter a 30.06 area, e.g., hospital, post office, polling station, etc. The 30.06 places we can't avoid. Don't think I've ever taken my discretionary $ to a business posted as 30.06.

My proposed workaround -- lacking any other options in a small car -- was to clear the pistol, leave the pistol concealed in the locked car (but not in a locked box ... no room for a concealed lock box), and carry the mag & ammo with me. The last step was in the unlikely event my pistol was stolen, the empty pistol couldn't immediately be used to harm anyone.

[nightmare69]

As the OP, I don't know if I learned anything new, but I do thank folks for trying to help.

My concern was whether I had any additional legal obligations beyond locking my car (with EDC gun) when having to enter a 30.06 area, e.g., hospital, post office, polling station, etc. The 30.06 places we can't avoid. Don't think I've ever taken my discretionary $ to a business posted as 30.06.

My proposed workaround -- lacking any other options in a small car -- was to clear the pistol, leave the pistol concealed in the locked car (but not in a locked box ... no room for a concealed lock box), and carry the mag & ammo with me. The last step was in the unlikely event my pistol was stolen, the empty pistol couldn't immediately be used to harm anyone.

30.06 sign only covers the premises, not the parking lots.

[K.Mooneyham]

As the OP, I don't know if I learned anything new, but I do thank folks for trying to help.

My concern was whether I had any additional legal obligations beyond locking my car (with EDC gun) when having to enter a 30.06 area, e.g., hospital, post office, polling station, etc. The 30.06 places we can't avoid. Don't think I've ever taken my discretionary $ to a business posted as 30.06.

My proposed workaround -- lacking any other options in a small car -- was to clear the pistol, leave the pistol concealed in the locked car (but not in a locked box ... no room for a concealed lock box), and carry the mag & ammo with me. The last step was in the unlikely event my pistol was stolen, the empty pistol couldn't immediately be used to harm anyone.

To the best of my knowledge, though IANAL, you do not have any sort of "legal obligations" by leaving your pistol locked in your vehicle. One of the LEOs might know something different, or one of the instructors, but up to this point, I have not heard anything of the sort.

[txglock21]

I don't know the "legalities", but I look at it this way, if someone is in my car without my permission, THEY are breaking the law, not me. As for your solution as a safety point of taking the mag and ammo just in case, I don't see a problem with that. MY suggestion, even with a small car, is to invest in a lockbox that you can secure to the floorboard. The weapon has too be conceled, not the lockbox. Just my 2 cents.

[Jumping Frog]

Clearing your gun is unnecessary gun handling and is a safety issue. First loading and unloading your gun inside a car has no safe muzzle direction that won't damage something you are unwilling to destroy.

Second, repeated unload/load cycles risk bullet setback which is dangerous. Use the search function, above, for "bullet setback" to familiarize yourself.

If I need to leave my gun in the car, I simply pull my holster/gun out of my belt as a single unit, put it in my center console, and lock my car.

[3dfxMM]

As the OP, I don't know if I learned anything new, but I do thank folks for trying to help.

My concern was whether I had any additional legal obligations beyond locking my car (with EDC gun) when having to enter a 30.06 area, e.g., hospital, post office, polling station, etc. The 30.06 places we can't avoid. Don't think I've ever taken my discretionary $ to a business posted as 30.06.

My proposed workaround -- lacking any other options in a small car -- was to clear the pistol, leave the pistol concealed in the locked car (but not in a locked box ... no room for a concealed lock box), and carry the mag & ammo with me. The last step was in the unlikely event my pistol was stolen, the empty pistol couldn't immediately be used to harm anyone.

30.06 sign only covers the premises, not the parking lots.

30.06 is not limited to the premises. It covers whatever property is posted.

[rotor]

As the OP, I don't know if I learned anything new, but I do thank folks for trying to help.

My concern was whether I had any additional legal obligations beyond locking my car (with EDC gun) when having to enter a 30.06 area, e.g., hospital, post office, polling station, etc. The 30.06 places we can't avoid. Don't think I've ever taken my discretionary $ to a business posted as 30.06.

My proposed workaround -- lacking any other options in a small car -- was to clear the pistol, leave the pistol concealed in the locked car (but not in a locked box ... no room for a concealed lock box), and carry the mag & ammo with me. The last step was in the unlikely event my pistol was stolen, the empty pistol couldn't immediately be used to harm anyone.

30.06 sign only covers the premises, not the parking lots.

30.06 is not limited to the premises. It covers whatever property is posted.

What? I drive into a hospital parking lot, walk up to the door and there is a 30-06. Are you saying that I am illegal before passing that 30-06? In my thinking the parking lot entrance would need a valid 30-06 posted to keep me out.