Texas is a constitutional-carry state. Since September 1, 2021, when HB 1927 (87th Legislature) took effect, qualifying adults 21 and older may carry a...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Texas is a constitutional-carry state. Since September 1, 2021, when HB 1927 (87th Legislature) took effect, qualifying adults 21 and older may carry a handgun openly or concealed in a public place without a permit. The operative provision is Tex. Penal Code § 46.02(a): a person 21 or older who is not a federally prohibited person and is not engaged in criminal activity does not commit Unlawful Carrying of Weapons (UCW) by carrying a handgun on or about the person in a public place. The Texas License to Carry (LTC), issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, remains available and remains useful. The LTC unlocks reciprocity with most other states, exempts the holder from a NICS check at the point of purchase, and grants access to license-holder carve-outs in Tex. Penal Code § 46.03 and § 46.15(p) and (q).
If you are a Texas adult who can pass a federal background check:
Deep dives live in PERMIT BASICS, APPLICATION PROCESS, TRAINING REQUIREMENTS, PROHIBITED PLACES, VEHICLE CARRY, USE OF FORCE, CASTLE DOCTRINE, RECIPROCITY, and PREEMPTION.
HB 1927 (87th Leg., 2021) rewrote § 46.02. The statute no longer makes it a per se offense for a non-prohibited adult to carry a handgun in public. Under § 46.02(a), a person commits UCW only when three conditions converge: the person carries a handgun on or about the person; the person is under 21 or has been convicted in the preceding five years of a listed offense (§ 22.01(a)(1) Class A assault, § 22.05 deadly conduct, § 22.07 terroristic threat, or § 42.01(a)(7) or (8) disorderly-conduct discharge or display); and the person is not on premises the person owns or controls and is not in or directly en route to a vehicle or watercraft the person owns or controls. An adult 21 or older with a clean record under those listed offenses does not commit UCW just by carrying.
§ 46.02(a-5) creates a separate offense for intentional plain-view display of a handgun in a public place, with an exception when the handgun is carried in a holster. That is the practical Texas open-carry rule: open carry is lawful, but the handgun must be holstered. § 46.02(a-6) adds an offense for carrying a handgun while intoxicated, with exceptions for the carrier's own property, private property with consent, and a vehicle or watercraft owned by or under the carrier's control. Carrying intoxicated in public is an offense regardless of LTC status.
§ 46.02(a-7) adds a felony-level offense for any person who carries a handgun while prohibited from possession under § 46.04(a) (felons during the five-year post-release period, and after that period anywhere off the premises where the person lives), § 46.04(b) (certain Class A misdemeanor family-violence convictions during the five-year disability period), or § 46.04(c) (persons subject to qualifying protective orders). A § 46.02(a-7) offense is a second-degree felony with a five-year minimum on a § 46.04(a) predicate, and a third-degree felony on a § 46.04(b) or (c) predicate.
HB 1927 did not eliminate the LTC. The LTC is the affirmative authority where § 46.02 alone is not enough. A Texas LTC operates as a federal NICS-alternative permit at the dealer counter; without an LTC, every dealer purchase requires a NICS check. The LTC also travels: Texas recognizes any other state's valid license to carry a handgun under § 411.173(b), and the Texas LTC is honored in the states DPS lists under that same subsection. Permitless carry under § 46.02(a) does not travel.
§ 46.15 lists exemptions from § 46.02 and § 46.03 for license-holding judges, prosecutors, court bailiffs, retired peace officers, and volunteer emergency-services personnel. Most of those exemptions assume an LTC. § 46.03(a)(1)(B) lets a postsecondary-institution license holder carry a concealed handgun on grounds and in passenger transportation vehicles where unlicensed carry would otherwise be an offense; the campus-carry framework in § 46.03(a-3) and (a-4) operates only against license holders. § 46.15(p) makes § 46.03(a)(7), (a)(11), and (a)(13) inapplicable to a license holder who was not given effective notice under § 30.06 or § 30.07 or Tex. Gov't Code § 411.204, and § 46.15(q) does the same for a collegiate sporting event under § 46.03(a)(8). Subsection (a) is the only text the Penal Code still prints under § 46.035 (Unlawful Carrying of Handgun by License Holder): § 46.035(a) makes intentional plain-view display in public an offense for license holders, with an exception for a holstered handgun (or a holstered handgun in a vehicle).
For instructors: tell students constitutional carry is the floor, not the ceiling. The LTC remains the practical tool for interstate travel, point-of-purchase friction, and college-campus carry.
Under Tex. Gov't Code § 411.172(a), an LTC applicant must be a Texas legal resident for the six-month period preceding the application (or eligible as a non-resident under § 411.173(a)) and at least 21 years of age. The applicant must have no felony conviction; must not be under information or indictment for a felony, a Class A or Class B misdemeanor, or disorderly conduct under § 42.01; must not be a fugitive from justice; must not be a chemically dependent person or incapable of exercising sound judgment with respect to handgun use and storage; must not have been convicted in the preceding five years of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or § 42.01 disorderly conduct; must be fully qualified to purchase a handgun under federal and state law; must not be delinquent in child support or in state or local taxes; must not be currently subject to a protective order or qualifying spousal-relationship restraining order; must not have been adjudicated within the preceding 10 years for delinquent conduct violating a felony-grade penal law; and must not have made a material misrepresentation in the application.
§ 411.172(b) defines "felony" to include any state-designated felony, any offense containing all the elements of one, and any offense punishable by one year or more in a penitentiary. § 411.172(c) creates a chemical-dependency presumption from two convictions within 10 years of a Class B misdemeanor or greater involving alcohol or a controlled substance as a statutory element. § 411.172(d) and (e) define "incapable of exercising sound judgment" by reference to specific psychiatric diagnoses, psychiatric hospitalization, recent inpatient substance-abuse treatment, and listed conditions (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, chronic dementia, intermittent explosive disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and others). § 411.172(f) provides a remission off-ramp on a licensed psychiatrist's certificate.
§ 411.172(g) authorizes an LTC for an applicant 18 to 20 who is a member or veteran of the U.S. armed forces (including reserves and national guard), was discharged under honorable conditions if discharged, and meets all other § 411.172(a) requirements except the federal minimum age to purchase. § 411.172(i) authorizes an LTC for an applicant 18 to 20 who is protected under an active Title 4 Family Code or Subchapter A, Chapter 7B, Code of Criminal Procedure protective order, or an Article 17.292 magistrate's emergency-protection order. § 411.172(h) preserves the federal floor: the LTC at 18 does not unlock dealer purchases at 18. Those two doors are not the whole picture. In Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. v. McCraw, No. 4:21-cv-1245-P (N.D. Tex. Aug. 25, 2022), the court ordered that "[t]o the extent that Texas's statutory scheme, TEX. PENAL CODE § 46.02(a) and TEX. GOV'T CODE §§ 411.172(a)(2), (g), (h), (i), prohibits law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying handguns for self-defense outside the home based solely on their age, this statutory scheme violates the Second Amendment, as incorporated against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment," and the Department of Public Safety states that "[t]he Department will therefore no longer deny applications solely on the basis that the applicants are 18-to-20 years old."
The application packet under Tex. Gov't Code § 411.174 must include a completed DPS application form, photographs meeting DPS specifications, certified proof of age, proof of Texas residency, two complete sets of legible and classifiable fingerprints, a $40 nonrefundable application and license fee, evidence of handgun proficiency, an applicant affidavit attesting that the applicant has read and understands the criminal provisions of Subchapter H and the deadly-force law and meets all § 411.172 eligibility requirements, and a signed authorization for DPS to inquire into noncriminal-history records. § 411.174(b) requires criminal-history record information, drug or alcohol treatment history within the preceding five years, and any psychiatric-hospital history. § 411.174(d) bars DPS from requesting the applicant's Social Security number. DPS issues or denies the LTC under § 411.177 within 60 days after receipt of the completed application, fingerprints, and proficiency evidence. The 60-day clock can be extended by a § 411.188(k) instructor proficiency-disapproval recommendation.
The handgun proficiency course required by Tex. Gov't Code § 411.188 has two parts. The classroom part is 4 to 6 hours of instruction on the laws relating to weapons and the use of deadly force, handgun use and safety (including restraint holsters and the secure carrying of openly carried handguns), nonviolent dispute resolution, and proper storage practices for handguns with an emphasis on storage that eliminates accidental injury to a child. The classroom may be delivered in person by a qualified handgun instructor or online through a DPS-approved online course provider. The range part may be administered only by a qualified handgun instructor. The proficiency examination has a written section on the classroom subjects (which may be administered online through a secure portal) and a physical demonstration of proficiency. § 411.188(d-1) requires applicants who took the classroom online to complete 1 to 2 hours of in-person range instruction before the physical demonstration. § 411.190 governs qualified handgun instructors and approved online course providers (TCOLE or Chapter 1702 certified, nationally accepted instructor-school graduates, or NRA-certified instructors); certifications expire on the second anniversary.
Open carry of a handgun in a holster has been lawful for LTC holders since January 1, 2016 (HB 910, 84th Leg., 2015). Permitless adults 21+ gained the same authority on September 1, 2021, under HB 1927. The handgun must be carried in a holster. Any handgun carried in public outside a holster and intentionally displayed in plain view is a § 46.02(a-5) offense for permitless carriers and a § 46.035(a) offense for license holders.
Long guns are not regulated by § 46.02. Open carry of a long gun by a non-prohibited adult is generally lawful in Texas, though it can support a disorderly-conduct charge under § 42.01(a)(8) if displayed in a manner calculated to alarm. § 46.03 prohibited locations apply equally to long guns and handguns.
§ 46.02(a-1) treats motor-vehicle and watercraft carry as a separate offense framework. A person commits an offense if the person carries a handgun in a vehicle or watercraft owned by or under the person's control at any time the handgun is in plain view, unless the person is 21 or older (or licensed) and the handgun is in a holster. The offense also applies if the person is engaged in criminal activity (other than a Class C traffic or boating violation) or is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Practical translation: an adult 21+ who is not prohibited can carry a loaded handgun in a vehicle. If the handgun is in plain view, it must be holstered. If concealed (under the seat, console, or in a bag), the holster requirement does not apply. § 46.02(a-2) extends "premises" to include a recreational vehicle being used as living quarters.
Texas codifies both the Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground in Chapter 9 of the Penal Code.
Under § 9.31(a), a person is justified in using force against another when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect the actor against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful force. The actor's belief is presumed reasonable if the actor (1) knew or had reason to believe that the person against whom force was used unlawfully and with force entered or was attempting to enter the actor's occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment, unlawfully and with force removed or attempted to remove the actor from the same, or was committing or attempting aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery; (2) did not provoke the person against whom force was used; and (3) was not otherwise engaged in criminal activity (other than a Class C traffic violation) at the time. § 9.31(b) lists when force is not justified: verbal provocation alone; resisting a peace officer's lawful or unlawful arrest or search (subject to the § 9.31(c) excessive-force exception); consent to the exact force used; provoking the other's use of force (subject to a clean-abandonment exception in § 9.31(b)(4)); or seeking an explanation from or discussion with the other person while carrying a weapon in violation of § 46.02 or possessing a prohibited weapon under § 46.05. The § 9.31(b)(5) bar matters: a person carrying unlawfully under § 46.02 cannot rely on § 9.31 to justify force used during a confrontation the actor sought.
§ 9.32(a) makes deadly force justifiable if the actor would be justified in using force under § 9.31 and reasonably believes deadly force is immediately necessary to protect against the other's use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, or to prevent the other's imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.
§ 9.32(b) presumes the actor's belief was reasonable if the actor knew or had reason to believe the person against whom deadly force was used unlawfully and with force entered or attempted to enter the actor's occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment, unlawfully and with force removed or attempted to remove the actor from the same, or was committing or attempting one of the § 9.32(a)(2)(B) offenses; and the actor did not provoke and was not engaged in criminal activity at the time. The Texas Castle Doctrine runs broader than the typical home-only formulation: § 9.32(b)(1) covers occupied habitation, vehicle, and place of business or employment.
§ 9.32(c) eliminates the duty to retreat for a defender who has a right to be present at the location, has not provoked the person against whom deadly force is used, and is not engaged in criminal activity at the time. § 9.32(d) prohibits the finder of fact from considering whether such a defender failed to retreat. The same no-duty-to-retreat structure appears for non-deadly force in § 9.31(e) and § 9.31(f). If you are lawfully present, did not provoke, and are not engaged in criminal activity (which includes carrying in violation of § 46.02), the jury cannot weigh your failure to retreat against you. If you are unlawfully carrying under § 46.02 or possessing a prohibited weapon under § 46.05, § 9.31(b)(5) yanks the affirmative defense and Stand Your Ground does not apply.
§ 9.41 authorizes force (not deadly force) to terminate trespass or unlawful interference with property. § 9.42 authorizes deadly force in defense of property only to prevent imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, nighttime theft, or nighttime criminal mischief, and only when the actor reasonably believes the property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means or that less-than-deadly force would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. § 9.43 extends those rules to defense of a third person's property. Treat the property-defense rule as a high-stakes carve-out, not a general right.
Two civil-immunity statutes work in tandem with Chapter 9. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 83.001 provides: "A defendant who uses force or deadly force that is justified under Chapter 9, Penal Code, is immune from civil liability for personal injury or death that results from the defendant's use of force or deadly force, as applicable." If the use of force is justified under § 9.31, § 9.32, § 9.41, § 9.42, or § 9.43, the defender is immune from civil suit for the resulting personal injury or death. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 86.002 bars a claimant convicted of a felony or misdemeanor from recovering civil damages for an injury sustained during the commission of that offense if the injury would not have been sustained but for the commission. § 86.002(b) preserves recovery only for damages arising from an entirely separate act not intended to prevent or apprehend the felony or misdemeanor and not arising from a premises defect or other circumstance to which the claimant was exposed as a result of the criminal conduct. § 83.001 cuts off civil liability when the force was justified; § 86.002 cuts off the attacker's recovery for injuries sustained while committing the predicate offense.
Texas reciprocity runs on Tex. Gov't Code § 411.173(b), which took its current form on September 1, 2025 under S.B. 706. A valid license to carry a handgun issued by any other state is recognized in Texas. Outbound recognition is the destination state's decision, and DPS publishes on its website, and annually updates, the list of states in which a Texas LTC is recognized. Confirm the current list on the DPS State Reciprocity Information page before relying on a particular state's status. Permitless carry under § 46.02(a) does not travel. A non-resident in Texas who is 21 or older and not a prohibited person is covered by § 46.02(a) on Texas soil; a Texas resident leaving the state needs the LTC for protection in the destination state. The full state-by-state matrix lives in the RECIPROCITY section.
Federal restrictions apply in Texas regardless of state authority. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) prohibits felons, persons subject to qualifying domestic-violence protective orders, persons with misdemeanor crime of domestic violence convictions, unlawful drug users, and others from possessing firearms in or affecting interstate commerce. Texas § 46.04 incorporates many of these. 18 U.S.C. § 930 criminalizes possession in a federal facility regardless of LTC. 18 U.S.C. § 922(q) (Gun-Free School Zones Act) restricts possession within 1,000 feet of a school, with a license-holder exception inside the licensing state. 18 U.S.C. § 926A protects interstate transport of an unloaded firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 926C (LEOSA) authorizes carry by qualified retired law-enforcement officers; § 46.15(a)(5) recognizes that exemption. Under the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.), suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, machine guns, destructive devices, and "any other weapons" require federal registration in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR). § 46.05(a)(1) cross-references that registry: explosive weapons, machine guns, and short-barrel firearms are state-prohibited unless registered in the NFRTR or otherwise not subject to registration.
§ 46.03 lists locations where carry is prohibited regardless of LTC status (subject to listed defenses): schools and postsecondary educational institutions (except as authorized by written regulations of the school or institution), polling places on election day or during early voting, government courts and offices used by the court, racetracks, secured airport areas, "51% premises" (alcohol businesses deriving 51%+ of revenue from on-premises alcohol consumption), high school, collegiate, or professional sporting events, correctional and civil-commitment facilities, hospitals, nursing facilities, and mental hospitals (without written authorization), amusement parks, and open meetings of governmental entities (with proper notice). An offense under § 46.03 is a felony of the third degree under § 46.03(g), except that an offense committed under (a)(8), (a)(10), (a)(11), (a)(13), (a-2), (a-3), or (a-4) is a Class A misdemeanor under § 46.03(g-2), and a location-restricted knife offense is a Class C misdemeanor under § 46.03(g-1) unless it is committed under (a)(1). The full list of prohibited places, the campus-carry framework under § 411.2031, and the § 30.06 / § 30.07 effective-notice requirements live in PROHIBITED PLACES.
Tex. Local Gov't Code § 229.001 broadly preempts local-government regulation of firearms, ammunition, knives, firearm supplies, firearm-related accessories, and ammunition components. With narrow exceptions (such as discharge ordinances, zoning and land-use regulation, and sport shooting range hours), a municipality may not adopt or enforce a firearms regulation. The full preemption analysis, including the 2023 § 229.001 amendments and litigation, lives in PREEMPTION.
Texas is constitutional-carry for adults 21 and older under § 46.02(a), with a holster requirement for plain-view carry. The LTC is preserved under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and remains the practical tool for reciprocity, point-of-purchase NICS exemption, campus carry, and § 46.15 carve-outs. The Castle Doctrine in § 9.32(b) covers habitation, vehicle, and place of business or employment. Stand Your Ground is in § 9.32(c) and (d). Felony unlawful possession is in § 46.04, with the upgraded carry-while-prohibited offense in § 46.02(a-7).
This page covers one part of our Texas concealed carry guide.
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