Texasgrillchef
Active Member
While this isn’t legislation... it does have to do with rules and regulations on recreational land owned or leased by the US Army Corp of engineers.
Many Texas state parks lease land from the USACE.
If you carry a firearm on USACE land without permission you can be written a $500 misdemeanor ticket.
however, these rules will be changing in the future. When exactly it is hard to say.they should change within the next year though. Why?
In 2018 the USACE lost a case in federal court on these rules (327.13) (Nesbitt v USACE) The federal courts ruled that 327.13 was unconstitutional and violated the 2nd amendment.
Because of this some park rangers as well as other law enforcement may not always write a ticket. Especially if your not breaking any other laws or other wise being a nuisance and other types of trouble maker problems. Most know that the judges will throw the ticket out, because of its unconstitutional nature and the fact you could appeal to it a higher court for being unconstitutional. The officers know that to do that, will still cost you money to hire a lawyer to do this for you and thus the lawyers fees becomes your “fine”. However if your keeping your gun concealed and not being a troublemaker, you might be ok. But I’m not a lawyer, and it is still technically illegal to carry on USACE property.
The USACE did have a rule change process with public comment until June of 2020. So the process to have the rule changed is being processed. When they will initiate the rule change though is anyone’s guess.
In the mean time, you can request from each local director written permission. If you mention Nisbett v USACE and that it was ruled unconstitutional (without being an a$$) most will give you written permission in Texas, providing you have a Texas LTC.
Many Texas state parks lease land from the USACE.
If you carry a firearm on USACE land without permission you can be written a $500 misdemeanor ticket.
however, these rules will be changing in the future. When exactly it is hard to say.they should change within the next year though. Why?
In 2018 the USACE lost a case in federal court on these rules (327.13) (Nesbitt v USACE) The federal courts ruled that 327.13 was unconstitutional and violated the 2nd amendment.
Because of this some park rangers as well as other law enforcement may not always write a ticket. Especially if your not breaking any other laws or other wise being a nuisance and other types of trouble maker problems. Most know that the judges will throw the ticket out, because of its unconstitutional nature and the fact you could appeal to it a higher court for being unconstitutional. The officers know that to do that, will still cost you money to hire a lawyer to do this for you and thus the lawyers fees becomes your “fine”. However if your keeping your gun concealed and not being a troublemaker, you might be ok. But I’m not a lawyer, and it is still technically illegal to carry on USACE property.
The USACE did have a rule change process with public comment until June of 2020. So the process to have the rule changed is being processed. When they will initiate the rule change though is anyone’s guess.
In the mean time, you can request from each local director written permission. If you mention Nisbett v USACE and that it was ruled unconstitutional (without being an a$$) most will give you written permission in Texas, providing you have a Texas LTC.