Texas HB 823 - a Clarification
Texas Law has always provided a proviso -
a Defense To Prosecution - in Vehicular Concealed Weapons Cases brought before the courts for prosecution.
The
LAWFUL Carrying of a firearm while traveling in a motor vehicle in the State of Texas has ALWAYS been protected by this proviso. The proviso was the term TRAVELING. Anyone TRAVELING in the State of Texas was immune from prosecution for carrying a concealed weapon in their car - As long as they could provide proof of traveling.
The problem was that the term 'traveling' - prior to HB 823 - was, at best, vague and ambiguous. Overnight stays, crossing county lines and other dependencies left to much of the
interpretation of the terms and dependencies to local law enforcement. That is no longer the case.
HB 823 merely Defines the term Traveling.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 46.15, Penal Code, is amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
(i) For purposes of Subsection (b)(3), a person is presumed to be traveling if the person is:
(1) in a private motor vehicle;
(2) not otherwise engaged in criminal activity, other than a Class C misdemeanor that is a violation of a law or ordinance regulating traffic;
(3) not otherwise prohibited by law from possessing a firearm;
(4) not a member of a criminal street gang, as defined by Section 71.01; and
(5) not carrying a handgun in plain view.
There are additional added Presumptions at the conclusion of the Bill - relating to the applicability of the offense of unlawful carrying of weapons to certain persons and to the consequence of certain presumptions in the prosecution of a criminal offense - but are there merely to define the clauses listed above.
And YES - the presumption of innocence in any question to the above clauses trumps all.
