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ktusc wrote:Honestly, I may have one beer every 2 or 3 months. I would just like to know what is legal.

Thx for the opinions.

What's legal is that you can drink while carrying, but DO NOT get intoxicated.

One drink will not get a normal person intoxicated.

More than one can be problematic. It depends on the person. But if you limit yourself to one, you should be OK.

I don't drink and carry off my property, but it has more to do with the fact that I won't drive after I've had a beer. While I wouldn't be "intoxicated" in the legal sense, the last thing I want is to get pulled over and have the cop smell the residual beer on my breath. Thus, because I don't go anywhere after a beer, I don't "drink and carry" while under the auspices of my CHL. (I DO always have a gun on me, though, so in that sense, I do "drink and carry," albeit at home.)

If I wasn't the driver, I'd quite readily have ONE beer, and not worry about it. But then, I never drink more than one a day, don't go to bars, and generally go for 3 days to over a week between beers at home. I've working on a 6-pack I bought a week and a half ago, and I'm barely chilling the third one right now.

Thane wrote: I've working on a 6-pack I bought a week and a half ago, and I'm barely chilling the third one right now.

This is soo funny because I have a six pack of Guiness minus 1 beer that has been in my pantry for months. I think I may chill one tonight for tomorrow.

About the comedy club. They are now smoke free. Forgive my ignorance (and I will do some research today) but isn't a business allowed to have a smoking section if >51% of business comes from the sell of alcohol?

Thx in advance!

ktusc wrote:
About the comedy club. They are now smoke free. Forgive my ignorance (and I will do some research today) but isn't a business allowed to have a smoking section if >51% of business comes from the sell of alcohol?

Thx in advance!

Depends on the club itself and also the city ordinances. Plano is now smoke-free and there is no smoking in restaurants or bars.

Which comedy club are you talking about and location?

The Laff Stop and its off of Allen Parkway and Waugh. It is smoke free.

It falls under the new Houston no-smoking ban as of September 1st. Same type of ban as Plano. Many municipalities are passing these ordinances which cover all public buildings and any businesses.

Molon_labe wrote:There is NO .08 limit on being intoxicated...if you are packing...DON'T touch the booze! PERIOD

If frankie_the_yankee doesn't mind, I'm going to interject a bit of personal opinion here and say...

I'm afraid I'm a member of this camp as well. If I am drinking, I disarm. Don't take any chances. It's not worth it.

starrbuck wrote:

Molon_labe wrote:There is NO .08 limit on being intoxicated...if you are packing...DON'T touch the booze! PERIOD

I'm afraid I'm a member of this camp as well. If I am drinking, I disarm. Don't take any chances. It's not worth it.

Feel free to do that if you wish. Just understand that it is not required by law.

But I'm curious. What exactly is the "chance" you feel you would be taking?

I say this because if you go unarmed you are also taking a chance - a chance that you will be assaulted by some criminal and will lack an effective means of self defense.

So it's a trade off.

frankie_the_yankee wrote:But I'm curious. What exactly is the "chance" you feel you would be taking?

I say this because if you go unarmed you are also taking a chance - a chance that you will be assaulted by some criminal and will lack an effective means of self defense.

So it's a trade off.

The same risks that I take if I drink and drive, if I drink and trust a designated driver to drive instead of myself, or if I drink and think I can shoot straight when I'm impaired by alcohol. Also, if stopped on the highway, or, God forbid, if I get involved in a shooting, explaining to a LEO that I'm carrying but I've only had one drink is a conversation I'd just rather not have.

If you have to have that drink or two so bad, that's you. It's not me.

Of course it's a trade off. I said I don't carry when I drink. I didn't say with what frequency I do either. Don't assume. Did you stop to think I may be carrying more and drinking less now that I have a CHL?

It's a choice, not the law.

starrbuck wrote: The same risks that I take if I drink and drive, if I drink and trust a designated driver to drive instead of myself, or if I drink and think I can shoot straight when I'm impaired by alcohol.

Most people are not impaired by having one drink. Certainly not in any legal sense of the word. If you get impaired after one drink, then I agree that you shouldn't drink at all while carrying.

starrbuck wrote: Also, if stopped on the highway, or, God forbid, if I get involved in a shooting, explaining to a LEO that I'm carrying but I've only had one drink is a conversation I'd just rather not have.

I can see your concern. You are obviously prepared to pay a high price for it, such as you or a family member getting successfully assaulted by a criminal so you won't ever need to have "that conversation".

That's too high a price for me.

starrbuck wrote: If you have to have that drink or two so bad, that's you. It's not me.

What makes you assume that I "have" to do anything? Frankly, I would say that that's "not me" either. I don't drink because I "have" to.

To be honest, I find the notion degrading, though I'm sure that's not what you meant.

starrbuck wrote: Of course it's a trade off. I said I don't carry when I drink. I didn't say with what frequency I do either. Don't assume. Did you stop to think I may be carrying more and drinking less now that I have a CHL?

It's a choice, not the law.

Correct. (Emphasis added.)

The problem is that there's no legal blood alcohol content for "intoxicated" in PC §46.035, like there is for driving. If my BAC is non-zero, I don't want to carry in public and risk becoming a test case.

I am in the zero tolerance club too. Should I get into a shooting, or fatal car accident, I want my BAC to be 0.0, and there not to be a single witness who can say they saw me drinking.

On another front, NYPD is now going to start checking BAC on NYPD officers involved in shootings. Guess after 50 years, they have awakened.

boomerang wrote:The problem is that there's no legal blood alcohol content for "intoxicated" in PC §46.035, like there is for driving. If my BAC is non-zero, I don't want to carry in public and risk becoming a test case.

True. But there are established criteria in case law that must be met to establish intoxication.

Do what you like, but understand that "zero tolerance" is not a requirement of the law. (Note also that the original question in this thread concerned what was required under the law, not what this or that person would elect to do.)

If zero tolerance was a requirement of the law, it would have been a simple matter to have written the law that way. But that's not what the legislators did.

True. But a peace officer can say someone is intoxicated based on behavior, and a BAC of 0.03 wouldn't prove they're not intoxicated for the purposes of PC §46.03. So there is ambiguity as to what non-zero BAC is or isn't intoxicated, whereas PC §30.06 clearly says owned or leased by a governmental entity. I know what I feel is safer legal ground, particularly considering one of the questions on my CHL test. (I believe the question pool comes from DPS.)

From the DPS website FAQ:

Q: Can I carry a handgun if I am drinking alcohol?

A: “Carrying� while drinking is not prohibited, but it is a criminal
offense to carry while intoxicated.

boomerang writes:

But a peace officer can say someone is intoxicated based on behavior, and a BAC of 0.03 wouldn't prove they're not intoxicated for the purposes of PC §46.03. So there is ambiguity as to what non-zero BAC is or isn't intoxicated.....

A peace officer can say you were intoxicated no matter what your BAC is. i.e. a peace officer can lie. But since most peace officers are honest, this is very rare.

And an honest peace officer must be able to articulate certain elements of your behavior that he observed that satisfy the legal standard of intoxication.

Also, someone could be intoxicated on something other than alcohol. So they could blow a 0.0% BAC and still be intoxicated. And the peace officer could truthfully note this and correctly arrest the person for carrying while intoxicated.

If a peace officer claims you are intoxicated based on your behavior, no BAC test is likely to be administered. So it doesn't matter if you are 0.0% BAC. No one will ever know.

Bottom line: Per DPS, drinking while carrying is legal. Carrying while intoxicated is not.