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I am curious if, by law, I am allowed to have it sitting next to me in plain view with a full clip in it. Ive been told the best thing is to just keep it out of sight as long as it is not on my body.
Just curious what is legal as far as having a loaded pistol next to you in plain view, in a vehicle, in texas.
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Carrying a pistol openly in TX is not legal except in very limited circumstances. Routinely carrying a pistol openly in your car is certainly illegal in TX.
If you are carrying with a CHL, the handgun must be concealed.
If you are carrying in your vehicle
without a CHL, the handgun must be concealed. It may be concealed in the vehicle, or on your person but it must be concealed. If you are carrying it openly in your vehicle you can be charged with a crime.
If you get out of your vehicle, and you don't have a CHL, in general you can not carry the pistol legally either concealed or openly unless you are at home or on other private property were you can legally carry it.
It doesn't matter if it's loaded or unloaded unless you make an LEO really mad and he decides to get even by charging you with some sort of violation under the hunting regulations. The TX penal code doesn't differentiate between loaded and unloaded firearms. If you can legally do something with an unloaded firearm, you can also do it with a loaded firearm. If you can't legally do it with a loaded firearm, unloading it won't make the action legal.
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Ive seen to many cops blow a gasket when you do the right thing and hand them your CHL and they freak out knowing you have a gun on you.
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I've been carrying since the CHL law passed (about 20 years) and I've been stopped a few times during that timeframe. I've never had a TX LEO freak out over my CHL. I'm not saying it never happens, but it doesn't seem to be at all common based on feedback from other CHL holders I've talked to.
I'm curious as to how you are seeing LEO/CHL interaction without ever having had a CHL?