The answer is more complicated than YES or NO.  Under Texas law there is an exception permitting convicted felons to possess firearms, but only in their residence, five years after being released from prison, parole, or probation (if convicted and their sentence was probated).  However, under Federal law it remains illegal for a convicted felon to possess a firearm, anywhere, including their residence.

Texas Law has a VERY NARROW Exception Permitting Felons to Possess a Firearm

In Texas, the law that Addresses Convicted Felons found in Possession of a weapon (a firearm) is Texas Penal Code Section 46.04.  That section reads:

Sec. 46.04. UNLAWFUL POSSESSION OF FIREARM.

(a) A person who has been convicted of a felony commits an offense if he possesses a firearm:

(1) after conviction and before the fifth anniversary of the person’s release from confinement following conviction of the felony or the person’s release from supervision under community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, whichever date is later;

(2) after the period described by Subdivision (1), at any location other than the premises at which the person lives.

It takes a little deciphering to figure out what that means as far as what is legal possession of a firearm by a felon, but essentially you can own one in your home after conviction and before the fifth anniversary of the person’s release from confinement following conviction of the felony or the person’s release from supervision under community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, whichever date is later…at any location other than the premises where the person lives. So if you are a convicted felon and get caught with a firearm anywhere else other than the premises where you live, you can be charged with felon in possession of a weapon (or anywhere, including where you live, it has been less than 5 years since you finished parole, were released from prison, or completed probation.

It is STILL Illegal for a Felon to Possess a Firearm Under Federal Law

Unfortunately, the Federal Firearms act

Possession of a firearm by a felon remains illegal under 18 USC § 922(g), the Federal Firearm Act.  The Federal law prohibits possession of a firearm by a prohibited person; among the definitions of prohibited person is a person that has been convicted of a felony.

Before you let the Federal law scare you – let’s think about this in perspective.  Federal agents are the only ones that will be investigating and pursuing charges for Federal crimes.  The only likely scenario where weapons found in your home would get you charged with a federal crime would be if the discovery of the weapons was incidental to some other Federal search warrant being served.  So if, for example, you are a convicted felon, and your residence had a search warrant executed on it by federal agents looking for a large quantity of controlled substances, and they also find the weapons – you would be charged with Federal firearms offenses as well.

CHARGED WITH A WEAPON OFFENSE?

Prior to being signed into law, it saw overwhelming support in the legislature, where it passed by a 111-30 after the addition of a last minute amendment by Jeff Leach of Plano to waive the fee for law enforcement.

The law began as Senate Bill 16, proposed by state Senator Robert Nichols.  The measure reduced the first-time fee for a license to carry from $140 to $40 and the annual renewal fee from $70 to $40. The fee would cover the Department of Public Safety’s cost to manage the license program as well as $27 for county, state and federal background checks.

“The problem is we have the third-highest fee [for a license to carry] in the nation,” said state Representative Phil King of Weatherford, who siagned onto the bill along with 22 members of the Texas House as authors or co-authors.

At $140, the Texas license fee was 3rd highest in the nation behind Illinois and Arkansas.

House democrats criticized the law, contending that the reduced fee will cost the state roughly $12.6 million in 2018.

When Governor Abbot signed the Bill into law on May 29, 2017, he did it at a gun range to celebrate.

While I respect the arguments by some of my colleagues that a person can not be detained and questioned simply because they are seen openly carrying a firearm, they are incorrect.  As I will explain further below, the statutes relating to the carry of firearms specifically permit officers to do so.  As I have said before, by choosing to openly carry a firearm, you are giving the police an excuse to stop you and question you.

Under Section 411.205 of the Texas Government Code you must produce your license to carry on demand.  This is in essence a waiver of a citizens ordinary right not to be stopped, ID’d and questioned without reasonable suspicion they are engaged in (or have been engaged in) criminal activity.  If you fail to produce the license would then be reasonable suspicion to detain.

One interesting aspect of this situation is: what is the penalty for failure to produce your license on demand?  Technically there is no specific penalty for not doing so, but an argument could be made that you are violating the Texas Penal Code by Interfering with Official duties of the law enforcement officer.  The Department of Public Safety could come up with a penalty in this situation, I would be on the look-out for this to happen over the next few years.

It is also important to note that if a law enforcement officer sees a person carrying a handgun (while not on the persons own property, motor vehicle or watercraft), he then has reasonable suspicion to believe the person is violating Texas law by Unlawfully Carrying a Weapon under Texas Penal Code 46.02.  Yes, it is true that an exception is carved out for those Licensed to Carry a firearm under 46.15(b)(6), an officer can investigate to see if the person qualifies for this exception.

CHARGED WITH A WEAPON CRIME?