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🇺🇸Gun laws in Texas

⚠️ AI-generated draft. This article was drafted by AI and has not yet been verified by a human. Help us make it accurate — suggest a correction. Last updated 2026-07-17.

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Overview

Texas is widely characterized as having among the least restrictive civilian firearms regimes in the United States. State firearms law is set primarily by Chapter 46 ("Weapons") of the Texas Penal Code together with Subchapter H of Chapter 411 of the Texas Government Code, which creates the optional License to Carry (LTC). These provisions operate on top of the federal framework described on the USA page — the National Firearms Act, the Gun Control Act, and NICS background checks at licensed dealers — which sets a floor that state law cannot lower.

The most consequential recent change was the Firearm Carry Act of 2021 (House Bill 1927, 87th Legislature), effective September 1, 2021, which authorized "permitless carry," often called constitutional carry. According to the Texas State Law Library, a person who is at least 21 years old and not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm may carry a handgun, openly or concealed, without any license, training course, or carry-specific state background check. The Government Code (§ 411.172) still provides an LTC for those who want one; the Firearm Carry Act did not repeal it.

Texas maintains no firearm registry. According to summaries by the Texas State Law Library and Wikipedia's review of the statutes, the state does not require a permit or license to purchase a firearm, does not register firearms, does not limit magazine capacity, and has no ban on semi-automatic rifles or on features such as pistol grips, adjustable stocks, or flash suppressors. There is no state-imposed waiting period, and Texas has no "red flag" or Extreme Risk Protection Order statute.

State preemption is strong. Under Government Code § 411.209 and Local Government Code §§ 229.001 and 236.002, Texas cities and counties are generally barred from adopting firearm regulations stricter than state law, including any local registration scheme. The result is a regime in which the significant remaining limits are on who may possess firearms, where they may be carried, and how a handgun in plain view must be carried, rather than on which firearms may be owned. The sections below describe those state-specific rules and their interaction with the federal baseline; the federal provisions themselves are not restated here.

Ownership & licensing

According to the Texas State Law Library and the summary of Texas statutes, Texas imposes no state permit, license, or registration requirement to purchase or possess a firearm. Acquisitions from a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) still trigger the federal NICS background check described on the USA page; private (person-to-person) sales between Texas residents are not subject to a state-mandated background check.

Age thresholds derive largely from federal law. An FFL may not sell a handgun to a person under 21 or a long gun to a person under 18. Under state law, long-gun possession by adults 18 and older is unrestricted for non-prohibited persons, while handgun carry under the permitless-carry rule is limited to those 21 and older (or qualifying members of the military aged 18–20). Following Firearms Policy Coalition v. McCraw (W.D. Tex. 2022, not appealed), which held the 21-and-older carry age unconstitutional as applied to law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced it would not enforce the 21+ carry age against non-prohibited 18-to-20-year-olds and issues Licenses to Carry to that group. Private intrastate transfers are permitted, but a seller may not knowingly transfer to a person prohibited from possession.

The License to Carry remains available under Government Code § 411.172. Applicants must be at least 21 (18 for certain service members), meet eligibility criteria, complete required training, submit fingerprints, and pass a background check administered by the Texas Department of Public Safety. Although no longer required to carry, the LTC confers practical benefits: recognition in states with which Texas has reciprocity, certain exemptions from prohibited-place rules, and, per criminal-defense commentary, use as immediate proof of a completed background check during a police stop.

Certain persons are prohibited from possessing firearms. Under Texas Penal Code § 46.04, a person convicted of a felony commits an offense by possessing a firearm within five years of release from confinement, parole, or supervision, and afterward may possess one only at the person's own residence. Persons subject to active family-violence protective orders and those convicted of certain family-violence misdemeanors are likewise restricted, mirroring federal prohibitions.

National Firearms Act items are lawful for civilians in Texas when properly registered under federal law. According to the Wikipedia summary of Penal Code § 46.05, machine guns and short-barreled rifles and shotguns are legal to possess in Texas if the possessor complies with the federal registration and tax requirements described on the USA page; possession of such items without federal registration is a state offense. Suppressors (firearm silencers) are treated differently: House Bill 957 (87th Legislature, 2021) removed silencers from the list of prohibited weapons in Penal Code § 46.05 entirely, so they are no longer a state-prohibited weapon in Texas — only the federal NFA registration requirement described on the USA page applies. Texas does not add a state licensing layer on top of the federal NFA process, and there is no state cap on the number of firearms an eligible person may own.

Carry & transport

Since September 1, 2021, Texas has permitted most adults to carry a handgun without a license. According to the Texas State Law Library, under Penal Code § 46.02, as amended by the Firearm Carry Act of 2021, a person who is at least 21 and not otherwise prohibited may carry a handgun in public, openly or concealed. A central condition applies to open carry: if a handgun is partially or wholly visible, it must be carried in a holster. Section 46.02 makes it an offense to intentionally display a handgun in plain view in a public place unless it is holstered.

Long guns (rifles and shotguns) may generally be carried in public by non-prohibited adults, though carrying one "in a manner calculated to alarm" may implicate disorderly-conduct provisions. Handguns and long guns may also be transported in a private motor vehicle by a non-prohibited person without a license, provided the handgun is not in plain view and the person is not engaged in criminal activity or otherwise prohibited.

Permissive carry does not extend everywhere. Penal Code § 46.03 designates numerous locations where weapons are prohibited regardless of licensure, including schools and school activities, polling places during voting periods, including early voting, government courts and offices used by courts, racetracks, secured areas of airports, correctional facilities, and the premises of businesses deriving 51% or more of income from on-premises alcohol sales (posted with a "51%" sign). Additional restrictions apply at hospitals, nursing facilities, amusement parks, and places of worship when proper notice is given, and at open meetings of governmental bodies. Federal facilities remain off-limits under federal law.

Private property owners may forbid firearms. According to the Texas State Law Library, owners may exclude license holders by giving notice under Penal Code §§ 30.06 (concealed) and 30.07 (open carry), typically through statutorily specified signage or oral or written notice. Unlicensed carriers are excluded through the ordinary criminal-trespass provision, Penal Code § 30.05, under which remaining on property after receiving notice that entry is forbidden is an offense; the § 30.06/§ 30.07 signage regime is directed specifically at license holders. Entering or remaining after such notice can constitute criminal trespass.

An LTC continues to matter for carry in several respects: it can exempt the holder from certain § 46.03 or § 46.02 restrictions, and it underpins interstate reciprocity. Carrying while intoxicated is prohibited, as is carrying by a person engaged in criminal activity. The holster-in-plain-view rule, the prohibited-places list, and the prohibited-persons categories are the principal state constraints that remain after permitless carry.

Travel & import

Texas does not require an import permit or any state registration to bring privately owned firearms into the state, and there is no state cap on quantity for a lawful owner. A person relocating to or visiting Texas may possess firearms lawful under state law without notifying any state agency. The permitless-carry authority created by the Firearm Carry Act of 2021 is not limited to Texas residents: according to the Texas State Law Library, any person who is at least 21 and not otherwise prohibited may carry a handgun in Texas under Penal Code § 46.02, so qualifying non-residents may carry on the same terms as residents.

For those who hold a carry license from another state, Texas recognizes out-of-state licenses through reciprocity and "unilateral recognition" arrangements administered by the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the Texas LTC is in turn honored by many other states. Because permitless carry already covers most adults, reciprocity chiefly matters for travel between Texas and states that still require a permit.

Interstate transport of firearms is governed by federal law. As described on the USA page, the federal "safe passage" provision of the Firearm Owners' Protection Act generally protects a person transporting a firearm through jurisdictions where possession would otherwise be restricted, provided the firearm is unloaded and inaccessible and the person may lawfully possess it at both the origin and destination. A traveler passing through or into Texas benefits from this protection, but must still observe Texas's prohibited-place rules once present in the state.

Acquiring firearms across state lines is regulated federally rather than by Texas. A Texas resident purchasing a handgun in another state must, under the Gun Control Act, take delivery through an FFL in Texas, where the NICS check occurs; long-gun purchases from an out-of-state dealer are likewise processed through FFLs. Texas adds no separate state import license to this federal process.

International import and export of firearms into or out of Texas is entirely a matter of federal law and U.S. Customs and ATF regulation, addressed on the USA page; Texas maintains no parallel state customs regime. Where an individual's eligibility or a specific item's status under federal transport rules is uncertain, the governing authority is federal, and travelers are subject to the requirements of each jurisdiction crossed rather than to any Texas-specific travel permit, which does not exist.

Hunting & sport shooting

Hunting in Texas is regulated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) under the Parks and Wildlife Code and the annually updated regulations published in the Outdoor Annual. According to TPWD, every hunter must hold a valid Texas hunting license before pursuing game, and hunters born on or after September 2, 1971 must complete a hunter-education course (or purchase a deferral). These licensing requirements are distinct from the firearms-possession rules in Penal Code Chapter 46; a person must satisfy both the wildlife and the weapons law.

TPWD's "means and methods" regulations specify which firearms and devices are lawful for particular game and seasons. According to TPWD, lawful devices for taking deer include centerfire and rimfire firearms, shotguns, muzzleloaders, and legal archery equipment and crossbows, subject to caliber and season restrictions. Muzzleloader-only deer seasons are limited to firearms in which the projectile and powder are loaded through the muzzle. For deer specifically, muzzleloaders must be at least .45 caliber. Certain counties impose additional restrictions on the type of firearm that may be used, and some game and non-game species have their own method rules.

Texas imposes no magazine-capacity limit for hunting, but federal migratory-bird rules independently restrict shotgun capacity for waterfowl. Suppressors, which House Bill 957 (2021) removed from the prohibited-weapons list in Penal Code § 46.05 (so that only federal NFA registration applies), are permitted for hunting in Texas. Non-native and certain nuisance species may be hunted with fewer method restrictions and, in some cases, year-round.

Access to public hunting land carries its own conditions. According to TPWD, persons age 17 or older hunting on the department's public hunting lands must hold an Annual Public Hunting Permit in addition to a hunting license and any required endorsements. On these lands, TPWD regulations prohibit possessing a loaded firearm within or on a motor vehicle (except for qualifying persons with disabilities), possessing a loaded firearm within a designated campsite or parking or boat-launch area, and discharging a firearm from, onto, or across a designated road or campsite. The 2025–2026 public-hunting regulations are stated by TPWD to be valid from September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026.

Sport and target shooting are not separately licensed by the state. Private and commercial ranges operate under general law, and Texas provides civil-liability protections for sport-shooting ranges against certain nuisance claims. Recreational shooting on public land is generally confined to designated areas, and shooters remain subject to the same prohibited-persons and prohibited-place provisions of Chapter 46 that apply to all firearm possession in Texas.

Penalties

Violations of Texas firearms law are graded under the Penal Code, and the applicable range depends on the offense and aggravating circumstances. According to summaries of Penal Code § 46.02 (Unlawful Carrying Weapons), the offense is most commonly a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000; the same section can be charged at other grades depending on the facts. Under general Texas sentencing law, a Class C misdemeanor carries a fine of up to $500 with no jail term, while a Class A misdemeanor carries up to one year and up to $4,000.

Carrying a weapon into a location listed in Penal Code § 46.03 (Places Weapons Prohibited) is treated more severely. According to reviews of § 46.03, the default classification is a third-degree felony, punishable under Texas law by two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, although certain locations and circumstances are graded as Class A or Class C offenses. Carrying into a "51%" alcohol establishment and similar high-sensitivity locations falls within the felony tier.

Unlawful possession of a firearm under Penal Code § 46.04 is graded according to the possessor's status. According to summaries of the statute, possession by a person previously convicted of a felony, within the periods the statute restricts, is a third-degree felony (two to ten years and up to $10,000). Offenses under the subsections covering certain gang members, persons subject to protective orders, and those convicted of family-violence misdemeanors are classified as Class A misdemeanors.

Possession of a prohibited weapon under Penal Code § 46.05 is graded by category. According to summaries of the statute, most prohibited weapons — including machine guns, unregistered short-barreled rifles and shotguns, explosive weapons, and zip guns — are third-degree felonies (two to ten years and a fine of up to $10,000). The lower state-jail-felony tier (180 days to two years in a state-jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000) applies to narrower categories such as tire-deflation devices, while possession of certain items like knuckles (brass knuckles) is a Class A misdemeanor. Aggravated circumstances, such as using a firearm during another felony, invoke separate enhancement statutes that can raise punishment to the second-degree (two to twenty years) range.

Beyond incarceration and fines, a firearms conviction can carry collateral consequences, including loss of the right to possess firearms under both state law and the federal prohibitions described on the USA page, forfeiture of the weapon, and revocation or denial of a License to Carry. Where a specific penalty turns on facts not resolved here, the controlling authority is the text of Chapter 46 and the general punishment provisions of the Texas Penal Code as applied by the courts.

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