Hospitals, with a 30.06 sign, that are owned by Gov. entity

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Douva
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Posts: 390
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:08 pm

Re: Hospitals, with a 30.06 sign, that are owned by Gov. ent

Post by Douva »

My follow-up:
I think you might find clarification by looking at another subsection of Section 46.035.

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Section 46.035

(c) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, at any meeting of a governmental entity.

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As with section 46.035(b)(4), section 46.035(i) acts as a qualifier for section 46.035(c).

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Section 46.035

(i) Subsections (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6), and (c) do not apply if the actor was not given effective notice under Section 30.06.

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Are we to assume that the legislature intended to apply Section 46.035(c) to only those rare government meetings held on private property, or are we to assume they intended to allow governmental entities to post 30.06 on government-owned property whenever an official meeting is in progress?

During the 2009 Texas Legislative Session--well after Section 30.06(e) went into effect--both the Texas House and the Texas Senate posted 30.06 on their respective chamber galleries (enforced by DPS officers with metal detectors) whenever they were convened. And unless I'm mistaken, they did so with the full knowledge and blessing of the Texas Attorney General's office.
EDITED TO ADD: It would be really nice if we could get this clarified in the Texas Concealed Handgun Laws and Selected Statutes handbook. I'm not suggesting a re-codification, since those can backfire, but it would be nice if the official literature included something along the lines of a letter from the AG explaining this particularly confusing bit of legal gymnastics. I'm pretty sure I understand it now, but there was a time when it had me really confused, and I'd hate to see someone inadvertently run afoul of the law due to a misinterpretation of the relationship between PC Section 46.035 and PC Section 30.06.

In the old thread Russell found, srothstein does an excellent job of explaining this confusing law.
apostate
Senior Member
Posts: 2336
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2007 10:01 am

Re: Hospitals, with a 30.06 sign, that are owned by Gov. ent

Post by apostate »

I agree it's a situation similar to a meeting of a governmental entity.

However, it also drives home the need to repeal 46.035 in full. These are places the law does not prohibit an unlicensed person from carrying a concealed AK or AR. There's no logical reason to prohibit a CH Licensee from carrying a more convenient but much less powerful firearm.
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