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Weapons offenses and prohibited places
Summary of the topic
Chapter 46 of the Penal Code was rewritten in 2021, and the current law no longer treats carrying a handgun as an offense in itself. Section 46.02 instead lists the situations that remain offenses: a carrier under 21, a recent conviction for a listed violent misdemeanor, a handgun in plain view in a vehicle without a holster, displaying a handgun in plain view in a public place unless it is holstered, and carrying while intoxicated. Each of these is a Class A misdemeanor. Carrying while prohibited from possessing a firearm under section 46.04 is a felony, of the second degree where the prohibition arises from a felony conviction and of the third degree where it arises from a family violence conviction or a protective order.
Section 46.01 supplies the definitions, including firearm, handgun, club, location-restricted knife (a blade over five and one-half inches) and short-barrel firearm (a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches or a shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches).
Section 46.03 lists the places where a firearm, location-restricted knife, club or prohibited weapon may not be taken at all. They include school and college premises, polling places on election day and during early voting, court premises, racetracks, the secured area of an airport, correctional facilities, hospitals and nursing facilities, amusement parks, and bars that earn 51 percent or more of their income from on-premises alcohol sales. The default grade is a third degree felony, while some places, such as sporting events, hospitals and amusement parks, are Class A misdemeanors. Section 46.15 lists the people and situations that sections 46.02 and 46.03 do not reach, headed by peace officers, and section 46.15(m) gives a defense to a person who received personal notice that carrying was prohibited and promptly left.
Section 46.04 makes it a third degree felony for a convicted felon to possess a firearm before the fifth anniversary of release, and away from the person's home after that. Section 46.05 covers prohibited weapons such as machine guns, short-barrel firearms, explosive weapons and armor-piercing ammunition, a third degree felony in most cases. Section 46.06 grades unlawful transfers, and section 46.13 makes it an offense to fail to secure a readily dischargeable firearm that a child under 17 gains access to.
Provisions this topic covers
- Tex. Penal Code ch. 46
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