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I've been summoned to jury duty at the George Allen Courts Building in downtown Dallas. Would it be safe to assume there are no lockers at the courthouse to check in a CHL weapon? There is of course nothing on the website (and I doubted there would be). Since I refuse to ride DART unarmed, I guess my only other option is to drive in and leave my CHL weapon in the vehicle?

...you would be very safe in assuming the above...

kahrfreak wrote:I've been summoned to jury duty at the George Allen Courts Building in downtown Dallas. Would it be safe to assume there are no lockers at the courthouse to check in a CHL weapon? There is of course nothing on the website (and I doubted there would be). Since I refuse to ride DART unarmed, I guess my only other option is to drive in and leave my CHL weapon in the vehicle?

I think you would be safe to assume that there are no lockers to check your handgun.

Unfortunately, yes. I would also have to think carefully about leaving my gun in my truck in one of those parking lots. I might just leave it at home. Anyone know what the vehicle break rate is in those parking lots?

...I went for jury duty and an officious little lady in a SO uniform informed me that I couldn't bring my Trim fingernail clippers that were on my keychain in "because we don't allow files in the courtroom"...I broke off the highly dangerous 1 1/8" x 3/16" weapon and handed it to her...asked her if she felt all better now, and received a glare that would boil water...and several giggles...
...went into the jury room and waited, watching folks come and go from the side door into a hallway to use the restroom...the same hallway we walked down to get to the metal detectors...so much for security...walking in that way by the propped-open door, I could have brought a Thompson...

It once took me three tries to get in for jury duty. I didn't even try to bring my gun in. First attempt - leatherman. Went back to my truck. Next they noticed I had a small knife I used as a key fob. I had it so long I didn't even think of it. Another trip. Didn't help that I was living up north at the time and had to walk through the snow.

Really felt like maybe I was on trial.

As others have said, there are no lockers available. There is, however, an underground parking garage beneath the courthouse where you'd probably be okay to leave your gun in your car. That's what I do every time I go to that courthouse - which is alot. Haven't had a problem (knock on wood).

Funny about the courthouse security. Every once in a while, they'll give somebody a hassle about having a digital camera or audio recorder in their bag, and make them surrender it (permanently) or take it back to their car. So stupid, since 99% of the cell phones they let people carry into the courthouse have both built-in.

H6RBW wrote:As others have said, there are no lockers available. There is, however, an underground parking garage beneath the courthouse where you'd probably be okay to leave your gun in your car. That's what I do every time I go to that courthouse - which is alot. Haven't had a problem (knock on wood).

Hypothetically, if you were buddies with one of the guards, are there any laws or policies preventing them from "borrowing" your gun when you go in and giving it back when you leave?

H6RBW wrote:As others have said, there are no lockers available. There is, however, an underground parking garage beneath the courthouse where you'd probably be okay to leave your gun in your car. That's what I do every time I go to that courthouse - which is alot. Haven't had a problem (knock on wood).

Funny about the courthouse security. Every once in a while, they'll give somebody a hassle about having a digital camera or audio recorder in their bag, and make them surrender it (permanently) or take it back to their car. So stupid, since 99% of the cell phones they let people carry into the courthouse have both built-in.

Gotta wonder about the IQ of those who came up with those rules.

I say leave it at home. No reason to make life difficult for yourself at the courthouse. Those officers probably wouldn't know what to do and something wrong could take place.

...police stations are supposed to supply lockers for if we need to go into secured areas of the station...the law provides for that...
...courthouses or offices used by the courts are simply forbidden places...they have no responsibility to provide storage...we must just obey the law and not carry there...

The George Allen Courthouse actually does have a 4 unit gun locker. I had to lock my gun up in it the last time I had jury duty. I am a leo though, and I had to show my credentials at the door.

Last time I had jury duty at the criminal court, they let me keep my gun on me...

...it's legal for you to carry your gun into the premises...by the time we reached the lockers, we'd already be felons...

speedsix wrote:...it's legal for you to carry your gun into the premises...by the time we reached the lockers, we'd already be felons...

Doesn't seem fair, but you're probably right.....

...puttin' yer butt on the line for us regularly DOES have a FEW perks!!! my thinkin' is that you should remain armed in the courtroom...they made us leave ours in the DA's office if we were in uniform...so we dropped our holster guns, not our backups...and if we were in suits...they just didn't search us...I'd hate to try that these days!!!