"Traveling" - TX, NM, CO - any advice?

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chorlton

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I'll be traveling through all 3 states soon and dont have a carry permit yet. I contacted the TX DPS to ask for some clarification on the rules for traveling with weapons (I also emailed the DPS and AG office of all 3 states but havent heard anything yet). The response was not as useful as I'd hoped, so I thought I'd ask here if anyone has advice or experience of traveling with weapons - more importantly traveling with a loaded weapon.

"If a person meets the traveling exception, the Penal Code does not specify how the handgun must be carried or whether the handgun must be unloaded. Again, the issue is left to the discretion of law enforcement agencies. The Department has no authority to give an opinion as to whether a specific journey will qualify a person as a traveler."
 
In Colorado, except the actual city of Denver, you can keep a loaded gun in the car. I believe NM is the same. TX in theory allows that, but I've heard stories of thuggish DA's prosecuting people for doing so.

If you want to be extra safe legally, just lock the guns in the trunk.
 
In New Mexico your car is an extension of your home. You can carry a concealed weapon in it without any permit or permission. Same goes for your motel room.

We are also an open carry state. However, it is a felony to carry openly or concealed anywhere that has a liquor license. This includes places that sell for off-premises consumption only. Starting next month this off-premises prohibition will not apply to CCW holders.
 
Thanks for that - I had heard something to that effect. I'm certain I would win in court but I could live without the arrest. I'm surprised to see NM and CO to be more tolerant than TX .
 
About the only problem in Texas has been with the Harris County (Houston) DA. He's instructed that nobody from Harris County is a traveller, and absent a CHL is subject to arrest.

They don't bother travellers insofar as the court-decision definition of being out of one's home county in overnight travel. Non-Harris County residents generally aren't affected.

Legislation to clean up this mess was passed and signed into law in this last session, but it probably doesn't take effect until September.

Art
 
Legislation to clean up this mess was passed and signed into law in this last session, but it probably doesn't take effect until September.
Click to expand...

Yep. Amazing how no one seems to know this.
 
Havent had problems in Tx (yet) for my road trips I've taken without a CHL... coming back from Durango, Co through NM, I had my USP on me in my truck I just bought driving home when an officer in Tucumcari was checking it out and found the gun in the glovebox.... said I was kosher and wouldn't worry about getting flack having a pistol in a deuce and a half anyway... YMMV
 
In colorado your pistol can be concealed ( on person or in a glove box ect.. ) and you are legal while driving , but if concealed on person dont put a foot out of the car, any long guns must have the chamber unloaded while transporting . The city and county of denver has its own laws ( much akin to the city of DC . ) and i suggest you avoid it since a lot of restrictive rules are still under appeal and thusly being enforced by an anti gun administration . Out side of the front range citys tho you will find colorado real laid back on firearms , enjoy your stay or transit .
 
Thanks everyone, as always you have been a great help. I'll be sticking around in the Rockies for a while, so I'll certainly be avoiding Denver. As far as I can tell (DPS emails, opencarry.org and packing.org)...in Texas I can have a weapon concealed in the car (but the DPS can't tell me if it can be loaded or not), in wonderful New Mexico, I can have it concealed and loaded, and in Colorado...well what I've read suggests it must be on display (which sounds wrong).
From packing:
"18-12-204. Permit Contents - Validity - Carrying Requirements.
(3) (a) a person who may lawfully possess a handgun may carry a handgun under the following circumstances without obtaining a permit and the handgun shall not be considered concealed:
(I) the handgun is in the possession of a person who is in a private automobile or in some other private means of conveyance and who carries the handgun for a legal use, including self-defense; or
(II) the handgun is in the possession of a person who is legally engaged in hunting activities within the state."
This is all quite confusing for a newcomer!
Can anyone definitively answer the TX and CO questions?
 
chorlton: my reading of that law says that you can carry concealed without a permit if you are "hunting" (that probably includes having a license for something in the right season). Sounds to me like they are saying that you don't have to carry a hunting handgun out in the rain/snow but rather can protect it with a coat. (???)

The first part seems to say you can carry concealed w/o permit inside your car (just like in your home).

I didn't have any handguns back when I lived in CO, but AFAIK you can carry open most anywhere outside Denver. I know of people that carried in vehicles all the time, not necessarily "visible". Years ago a guy brought his p/u into the shop for repairs. He had a holster mounted on the inside of the door. Believe it or not, he left the revolver in the p/u while it was at the shop! That was 30+ yrs ago - we were all a little surprised but nobody bothered with it.

If I ever go back down there for a visit, I guess I will test out the open carry proposition ;) Dang, but I'm spoiled living in MT :)
 
Can anyone definitively answer the TX and CO questions?
Click to expand...

Texas question was answered in posts 5, 7, 10, 11, 12.

Stay out of Harris County and you'll be fine. Or wait until September 1st and you will even be fine there.
 
My wife was stopped by Young county Texas DPS, ( mph over) and she told them she had a gun. It was midnight and the two officers took the gun from her, took it back to their car and played with it while she watched, that is dry fired it and looked through the sights and stuff. (It's a Lady SMith and Wesson .357)

Then one of the guys asked her if she was traveling and she said yeah, so he gave it back to her. Later I asked one of the local deputies about that and his advice was to just not tell them unless they ask if you have a firearm. She has no CCW, and doesn't want one. They did not ticket her.

So, if they don't ask, don't tell. ;)
 
Los Quates in Albuquerque, either location.

They have liquor so leave the hardware in the car.

The salsa is an evil looking, oily reddish liquid. Tastes great, but the real fire comes to you when you quit eating the chips and salsa. Try it if you like fiery foods, start out just dipping a corner of the chip and work up!:what:


Los Quates
Albuquerque, New Mexico
505-255-0974

Best Mexican food in the state without a doubt, probably the best in the country, quite likely the best on the planet. It started as a small place, (16 tables) back about '87. The food was so good they had to expand to a second location across the street. Then that had to expand, and expand again, and again. They still have the original location, but also take up the entire city block across the street!! Both locations are packed, AND they do carry out. Wonderful use of Green Chile and Red Chile. The make enchiladas the way Monet makes paintings.
Voted Best Chile Rellanos in a recent NM poll.
From: Brendan Kelly,
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 1999
Click to expand...

http://www.pepperfool.com/dining/states/newmex.html]
 
Los Quates is OK, but Garduno's (the original location on north 4th Street) is better.

The best New Mexican food in the state, however, is at La Posta in Old Mesilla, just south of Las Cruces. It was originally a Butterfield Stage stop, and was also Douglas McArthur's favorite restaurant in the area.
 
One time I went into a real Mexican restaurant in Taos (a place where only Mexicans went to eat). I ordered the "green" chile and all the crew were not very discreetly watching from the kitchen to see the gringo melt down.

I disappointed them. Back then I could eat jalapeno peppers like they were pickles :D
 
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