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Again, another newbie who is probably overthinking things way more than they should.

My question involves storing your firearm in your vehicle. Let me first throw out my current info if that helps.

Equipment:

Alien gear holster, hammer fired DA (of course) firearm. However may in the future end up with striker fired DA/SA no safety firearm.
Primary vehicle Truck, secondary vehicle regular size car.

Cardenal rule as I understand is that you never pull your firearm from your holster unless it's to be used or cleaned. So if you run into a situation where you have to return to your vehicle (30.06 on front door), do you remove the entire holster/firearm from your body and safely store? Or do you get into the vehicle and just remove the firearm. Thus the equipment list above.. I am comfortable with removing and re-holstering a hammer fired firearm from my holster and leaving it in the vehicle, however I would be VERY cautious about doing so with a striker fired one. I plan on purchasing a couple of under seat pistol safes in both vehicles though..

Thoughts, experiences...

I have a small gunvault in my car and remove my striker fired pistol from my holster and place in the vault along with the spare mag. I do this while seated and have had no issues since I started carrying in 2009. I am never in a rush doing this and take care to ensure nothing may get snagged (cover garment) when unholstering.

Whether removing holster and gun together or just removing the gun for storage is a personal choice that may be impacted as much by where/how you intend to store the gun as by anything else. For example, if you are using a safe/lock-box inside the vehicle, the gun + holster may not fit. In that case, you'll have to unholster and re-holster the gun anyway, but you can always remove holster + gun and then re-arm with holster + gun (removing the gun and reinserting it into the holster while the holster is off-body) to help ensure that nothing unexpected happens.

The critical thing when holstering a sidearm is clearance so that the bang switch (trigger) WILL NOT be activated while the sidearm is being inserted. The Alien Gear holster (or any number of other quality holsters) helps to insure that the trigger is not acted on by having a pretty rigid kydex shell. If the user ensures that the backing of the holster does not get folded, and that there is no other clothing or accessory item that can get into the holster or trigger guard as the gun is re-holstered, the chances of an unintended discharge are minimal regardless of the trigger action and other safety features of the gun.

RELATED: To the best of my knowledge, there is no law against wearing an empty holster.

The situation has to dictate your course of action. If I am wearing my Crossbreed IWB holster, I will not remove it inside a vehicle. I can take it off fairly easy, but putting it on requires me to loosen my belt and unsnap my jeans. Not something that can be done sitting down, and not something I want to do in public So, If I'm wearing that holster I will unholster my pistol and lock it up.

If I'm wearing one of my OWB holsters, taking them off requires me to pull my belt back through the holster. This can be done easy enough sitting down, but once again putting the holster back requires standing up. Since it doesn't require unsnapping my jeans, I don't have a problem doing this outside the vehicle.

In either case, getting back into the vehicle and putting my holster back on may become a public act depending on where your vehicle is parked. Sometimes I don't really want people to see me putting on a holster with a gun in it. In those situations, I will also unholster my pistol and lock it up.

Both of those examples are what I do while CC. And when handling the pistol outside of the holster I move slowly, and carefully. Reholstering the loaded pistol is the action where you can get into an ND situation. Especially if you carry a gun without a safety (DA or SA).

I will also say that sometimes I have open carried an empty holster past a 30.06 sign on purpose just as a small protest. On rare occasions it has given me the opportunity to have a friendly discussion about the signs and what they in actuality do and don't accomplish. I had one such conversation recently at a doctor's office.

If i come across 30.06 i just remove my firearm, yes there is always one in the pipe, but im so use to keepibg my finger off the trigger that its just second nature to set it in the glovebox upon removing from my holster. I guess its more of how comfortable you are with it, if you want to remove the holdter as well then do that, better safe than sorry!

My understanding of Texas Penal Code 42.01(a)(8) is that you're probably fine unholstering in certain reasonable circumstances, like storing or removing from storage, as long as you take every reasonable step to ensure you are not causing alarm. In order for you to be charged with disorderly conduct for brandishing a firearm, it must be in "a manner calculated to cause alarm." Now there are people who will freak out over nothing, and the police may have a hard time understanding the situation for what it is - which is why I said take every reasonable precaution to appear unthreatening. At that point, even if someone is alarmed you can still say, "look, I did everything in my power to make it a non-issue."

When I have to unholster and store or (reholster after storage) I will do it in my car if possible. If not possible, I will wait until as few people are around as possible, then do it as quickly and smoothly as is safe. I will ensure that I never aim anywhere but the ground, and will use my car door for concealment. Then I make a conscious effort to look like I'm not an awkward maniac poorly trying to conceal a gun.

Basically: be smart, be safe, be discrete, and if you make it a non-issue, a non-issue it should stay.

Thanks everyone for your replies. As a long time shooter I am very comfortable around firearms, but as a soon to be newly minted LTC holder I am still very cautious about holstering (especially IWB). Thus my percolation (I like to use fancy words every now and again) towards hammer fired DA equipment.

I foresee a bit of time spent in my driveway sitting in my truck with an unloaded firearm, holstering, unholstering, etc, etc. until I am super confident. Again I know that I am most likely overthinking things, but I have always leaned towards safety first. I just introduced my twin teenager boys to the world of shooting and a LOT of time has been spent over the last 6 months with them going over all of the dangers and rules, etc.. So I guess it is foremost in my mind right now...

I always found it easier to remove the gun and leave the holster installed in my pants when I had to go into Sprouts or some other 30.06 place to fetch something for SWMBO.

I'd say go with whatever is most comfortable for you and take proper procedural precautions if unholstering/reholstering.

If I see a 30.06 sign, I find someplace else to go. But in the rare cases where I choose not to do that for whatever reason, I unholster and wear my empty holster proudly on my hip. I want to make it very clear that I am complying with their legally valid and binding request to make their store a welcoming target for thieves and murderers.

I have gotten at least one interesting look from a clerk at a convenience store where I did this. But since I don't plan to ever return there, I really don't care if they were upset.

Ok... So go ahead and just delete this whole post... (kidding of course)

Got my Alien Gear Holster in today... Yea... Not going to be pulling that thing off in the car or truck... After holstering, unholstering my firearm several times over I feel more comfortable with it not going BANG... Obviously If I do need to get into my vehicle and perform one of those actions I'm going to be as careful as I can, but now that I have my gear I can understand much better the mechanics of it all.

I openly carried my Tanfoglio BTA90 in a paddle holster so that I could easily remove the holstered pistol if I needed to. Now, I openly carry my S&W M&P M2.0, 5 inch, in a Safariland ALS using the Quick Lock System. I can easily remove the holstered pistol from the receive on the belt slide without undoing my belt.

imkopaka wrote:My understanding of Texas Penal Code 42.01(a)(8) is that you're probably fine unholstering in certain reasonable circumstances, like storing or removing from storage, as long as you take every reasonable step to ensure you are not causing alarm. In order for you to be charged with disorderly conduct for brandishing a firearm, it must be in "a manner calculated to cause alarm." Now there are people who will freak out over nothing, and the police may have a hard time understanding the situation for what it is - which is why I said take every reasonable precaution to appear unthreatening. At that point, even if someone is alarmed you can still say, "look, I did everything in my power to make it a non-issue."

When I have to unholster and store or (reholster after storage) I will do it in my car if possible. If not possible, I will wait until as few people are around as possible, then do it as quickly and smoothly as is safe. I will ensure that I never aim anywhere but the ground, and will use my car door for concealment. Then I make a conscious effort to look like I'm not an awkward maniac poorly trying to conceal a gun.

Yes, for Texas Penal Code 42.01(a)(8) (Disorderly Conduct). However, when carrying under the LTC it must either be concealed, or if visible carried in a belt or shoulder holster (presumably the Lege's intent was worn on you, not carried in a holster in your hand...). There's no exception listed for temporarily disarming/re-arming, etc.

Sec. 46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally displays the handgun in plain view of another person in a public place. It is an exception to the application of this subsection that the handgun was partially or wholly visible but was carried in a shoulder or belt holster by the license holder.

imkopaka wrote: Basically: be smart, be safe, be discrete, and if you make it a non-issue, a non-issue it should stay.

On this part I definitely agree.

IMO, using a car door as a shield, you are not in the category of "intentionally displays the handgun in plain view of another person in a public place". It doesn't seem you are "displaying" it to anyone in this scenario, simply moving it from holster to safe. One can definitely argue that you are intentionally displaying it, but IMO, you would get the officer (unless one of *those* anti-gun) and/or courts to agree you weren't intentionally displaying. Using the car door, car, and yourself to shield it, I can't think that is "plain view" unless people are already just standing on all sides of your vehicle watching you Of course, having a truck is much nicer for disarming at the door than a small car.

That being said, simple solution for peace of mind - keep a small towel near your safe. Cover your hand/ weapon as you draw it and it is definitely not in plain view of anyone.

It's no big deal, open the car door and position your carry side towards the vehicle and unholster. Nobody will notice, in fact most people won't even realize when you are carrying.