Is it legal to open carry in Texas without a license?

Get your Texas license to carry with our DPS approved training! Click here for our DPS Approved Training For Texas License to Ca. Watch our informative video below to learn more about the process and requirements.

Ready to get your Texas License toCarry- Texas Concealed Carry? Click Here to begin with our $40 100% DPSApproved Online Texas LTC Class

Law enforcement officials are concerned that their work may be more dangerous. Section 30.07 of the TPC covers breaking and entering by the licensee with an open handed weapon. This allows a residential or commercial owner to place signs that preemptively prevent licensed persons from entering the premises while openly carrying a handgun. For Charles Cotton, first vice president of the National Rifle Association, who lobbied for it to be loaded without a permit in Texas and other states, those fears are exaggerated.

When you purchase a gun from a licensed dealer, you must go through a background check, although that is not required for private gun sales in Texas. There is little data from other states to determine if carrying without a permit will affect the number of shootings or crimes in Texas. Prior to the House Bill of Representatives of 1927, holders of a Texas CHL or LTC could openly carry guns in the same places that allowed concealed weapons, with some exceptions. Texas unilaterally recognizes 11 other state concealed carry permits; those states do not recognize Texas' own permit as valid within their jurisdiction, usually due to a lower Texas permit requirement compared to its own.

Under the previous law, Texans had to pass a security course and background check to obtain a carrying license. But some Texas law enforcement officials fear that removing restrictions on carrying guns could increase crime rates and endanger officers and residents. Nearly six out of 10 Texas voters surveyed by the University of Texas and the Texas Tribune in April opposed carrying without permission. Legislators also increased penalties for illegal weapons carried by criminals and those convicted of family violence crimes.

The civil court will determine whether the defendant was justified under chapter 9 of the Criminal Code, however, the civil court will generally be bound by common law by the prior determinations of a criminal court under the principles of res judicata and Stare decisis, to the extent that those legal doctrines are apply to the case. Texas law does not place specific restrictions on who can carry a long gun, such as a rifle or shotgun. People traveling in motor vehicles and boats are also prohibited from carrying weapons without a holster in plain sight in Texas, although people who “travel” are exempt from this ban. Like anyone who wants to own a gun in Texas, they must be at least 21 years old and cannot have served a sentence for a felony or family violence in the past five years.

Federal and Texas laws only regulate ownership of all firearms up to 18 years of age or older, and regulate the transfer of handguns at age 21 or older by FFL dealers.

Click here for our DPS Approved Training For Texas Licenseto Carry a Handgun Online Class