A texan ccl holder arrested for a minor traffic violation

Turbod'1 said:

New to the Texas forum but not "new": It's my understanding that one can have a firearm in their vehicle, without permit, as long as it's concealed [please correct me if I'm wrong]: must one disclose, as part of the permit process, that they have a CHL when pulled over?

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Correct. Without a license, you can have a "concealed" weapon in your vehicle so long as you're not a prohibited possessor, in the process of committing a crime, or a member of a criminal gang. If you do have a license and get pulled over, yes you should give the LEO your license along with driver's license and make clear to him/her you are carrying. If it's at night, turn on the overhead dome light so the officer knows you are likely a carrier.

KBCraig said:

You are correct on all of the above. And even for those two, the officer only has to ask one time for a signature; if refused (and "refused" includes anything other than immediately signing), even those two offenses are subject to custodial arrest.

A bit of Texas law:
- Every traffic stop constitutes an arrest; at the end of the stop, the driver is either released without charges, charged and signs a personal recognizance bond in the form of a Promise To Appear (the ticket), or taken into custody.
- Every violation of the Texas Transportation Code is a crime, of Class C misdemeanor or greater.

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That's how I understood it also. A simple traffic stop is an actual "arrest". There's no in between, no "simply being detained", yada yada. You're either under arrest or you're not. So, until the cop let's you leave, or leads you off in handcuffs (for whatever reason), you are still technically "arrested" during the stop.

qednick said:

Correct. Without a license, you can have a "concealed" weapon in your vehicle so long as you're not a prohibited possessor, in the process of committing a crime, or a member of a criminal gang. If you do have a license and get pulled over, yes you should give the LEO your license along with driver's license and make clear to him/her you are carrying. If it's at night, turn on the overhead dome light so the officer knows you are likely a carrier.

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OK, good to have vetted.

qednick said:

That's how I understood it also. A simple traffic stop is an actual "arrest". There's no in between, no "simply being detained", yada yada. You're either under arrest or you're not. So, until the cop let's you leave, or leads you off in handcuffs (for whatever reason), you are still technically "arrested" during the stop.

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So, Texas has no "Detained"? How is it that they respect the 2nd but not the 4th?

So confused...

Turbod'1 said:

OK, good to have vetted.



So, Texas has no "Detained"? How is it that they respect the 2nd but not the 4th?

So confused...

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Honestly not sure either is truly respected.

He means in the context of a traffic stop, not in general. Texas peace officers can and certainly will detain folks. I'm not sure the "arrested not detained" bit applies in a solid 100% of times that one is pulled over while driving. I think, maybe, there could feasibly be a circumstance where one could be driving, and an officer have RAS to stop and detain them, but not PC to arrest them (such as observation of a transportation code violation.) It may just be the case that usually if someone is being stopped while driving, it is because the officer observed them violating the transportation code, and so in most cases it would be an arrest instead of a detainment. I could be wrong, it'd be nice if a lawyer could be asked.

Yeah, I remember a clip I saw online from a Texas lawyer (which is where I get my "understanding" from)...just can't remember his name or anything. The essence of the clip was a traffic violation is still classed as a criminal offense. Therefore, if you're stopped for a traffic violation, you are technically under arrest during the stop.