Texas Gun Laws

The Texas Department of Public Safety web-site has a lot of good information regarding the Texas Concealed Handgun License including the most current laws as taught in our CHL classes.

If you want to download a copy of the up-to-date laws, click on;
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/chlsindex.htm

There is a wealth of good information there. It offers excerpts from chapters on weapons, the general code, and the penal code, as relating to the CHL holder in Texas.

The most notable part of the law concerns the deadly force statutes. As you read them, note the use of the word "justified". It states the actor is "justified" in the use of deadly force in certain circumstances. It never says an actor is "compelled" or "required" to use deadly force.

I teach it this way; If you can honestly say to yourself or an investigator, "I thought I was about to die (or that an innocent person was about to die)", deadly force might be used. Remember, in Texas, the production of a firearm to create the perception by the attacker that you are willing to employ deadly force, does not constitute the use of deadly force. It is when you pull the trigger.

A final thought.
STOP
CONTROL
NEUTRALIZE

Always remember, the use of deadly force is not used with the intention of "killing" an attacker. You only use deadly force to keep an attacker from killing you. You use deadly force to "stop" the assault, "control" the assailant, or "neutralize" a deadly force situation.