30.06 at Dallas police station

[Kalrog]

An entry was added on texas3006.com for a 30.06 posting inside of the public lobby of a Dallas police station.

Just wanted to make sure I was correct here (and everyone agreed with me), since the Dallas police station would be a governmental entity, a 30.06 posting does not carry any legal weight, correct?

I agree with that statement. Wasn't something passed last year that required locked storage if a police department was going to require disarming prior to entry into specific places? Something much more specific than 30.06 even?

[Liko81]

An entry was added on texas3006.com for a 30.06 posting inside of the public lobby of a Dallas police station.

Just wanted to make sure I was correct here (and everyone agreed with me), since the Dallas police station would be a governmental entity, a 30.06 posting does not carry any legal weight, correct?

I agree with that statement. Wasn't something passed last year that required locked storage if a police department was going to require disarming prior to entry into specific places? Something much more specific than 30.06 even?

Weapons carry of any type in jails, prisons and courthouses are prohibited by Section 46.035 (Places Weapons Prohibited). If the police station has holding cells or is a wing of a building that is predominantly a courthouse, you can't carry, period. A small station that's just a forward operating area for a precinct and doesn't have holding cells doesn't qualify as a "correctional institution" as a jail with holding cells could.

[DoubleActionCHL]

One of my clients is a local municipality. The lobby area of their police station has no signage barring weapons. However, the door that leads to the office areas, dispatch and IT facility has a sign: "SECURED AREA: WEAPONS PROHIBITED." While the sign isn't specific, it only applies to non-LEOs, according to one of the department employees.

I don't have a copy of the legislation, but I seem to recall it referring to the "Secured Area" of a police station being off limits to carrying CHL holders, as well as provisions for a secured area for disarming CHL holder and storing of weapons. If that's the case, it's quite possible that signage including the words "Secured Area" are enough to meet the requirements of law.

I believe 30.06 is inapplicable in this situation.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Police stations are not off-limits to CHLs and 30.06 signs are not enforceable. However, CHLs can be required to disarm at statutorily defined "law enforcement facilities" under certain very limited circumstances. See Tex. Gov't Code §411.207(b) - (d). The distinction between being "off-limits" and being required to "disarm" is not insignificant. If property is "off-limits" to a CHL mere entry is a criminal offense. The newly enacted TPC §411.207(b)-(d) merely allows the facility to require a CHL to disarm and put their gun into a lock box; they cannot bar entry or require you to take your gun back to your car.

Chas.

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/gv.toc.htm

[CHL/LEO]

I've posted on here numerous times about those signs at our police substations. Most of them have been up for years and were not removed when the law changed. That would require spending money to have someone come out and remove them. Unless there is a court order to remove them it just won't happen in Big D.

The signs are not enforceable anyway. None of the substations have a jail or holding facility in them. The police headquarters building on S. Lamar does have a certified jail in it, but even so I'm pretty sure there are no 30.06 type signs on the building since it's a new facility.

[numist]

I've posted on here numerous times about those signs at our police substations. Most of them have been up for years and were not removed when the law changed. That would require spending money to have someone come out and remove them. Unless there is a court order to remove them it just won't happen in Big D.

The signs are not enforceable anyway. None of the substations have a jail or holding facility in them. The police headquarters building on S. Lamar does have a certified jail in it, but even so I'm pretty sure there are no 30.06 type signs on the building since it's a new facility.

I would be more than happy to rip the sign down for free if I knew I wouldn't be tackled and arrested for vandalism.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Not every holding cell is a "jail." Jails typically are county jails and jails in large police departments that are certified, as CHL/LEO noted.

Under the new Tex. Gov't Code §411.207(b)-(d), no multi-use building will be a "law enforcement facility." The definition includes this limitation to prevent small cities and other agencies from being able to disarm a CHL who came into a city hall that also housed the local PD. The example you gave of a PD in the same building with a courtroom or office also precludes a local PD or Sheriff's Dept. substation from being a "law enforce facility." Also note that the LEO's agencies that qualify are very limited; i.e. deputy sheriffs (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. §2.12(1)) and municipal police officers and marshals (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. §2.12(3)). Water district COPS, constables, game wardens, DPS troopers and a myriad of other commissioned officers/agencies don't qualify. This most certainly was not an oversight! I intended it this way to limit the application of this new provision to large city PD's and Sheriff's Depts. A Capt. with HPD was very helpful in getting this approved from "their side" and I appreciate his efforts.

Chas.

Here is the operative language:

(d) In this section:

• (1) "Law enforcement facility" means a building or a
  portion of a building used exclusively by a law enforcement agency
  that employs peace officers as described by Articles 2.12(1) and
  (3), Code of Criminal Procedure, and support personnel to conduct
  the official business of the agency. The term does not include:
  (A) any portion of a building not actively used
  exclusively to conduct the official business of the agency; or
  (B) any public or private driveway, street,
  sidewalk, walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other parking
  area.

(2) "Nonpublic, secure portion of a law enforcement
facility" means that portion of a law enforcement facility to which
the general public is denied access without express permission and
to which access is granted solely to conduct the official business
of the law enforcement agency.

[GWE Chally]

The Northeast Substation in Northwest Hwy still has a 30.05 sign... actually 2 of them by the main entrance.