Second DWI in Texas: What Happens to Your License to Carry

You hold a Texas License to Carry. You have one DWI on your record. Now you have been arrested for a second one, and a letter from the Department of Public Safety says your license is suspended.

Most people in that spot ask two questions. What happens to my license? And can I still carry my handgun?

The short answers: DPS suspends the license while the charge is pending. The suspension does not, by itself, stop you from owning a handgun or from carrying one, because Texas does not require a license to carry. Before you carry, read your bond conditions. A court order that bars firearms controls no matter what the carry law says. The suspension also takes away a few protections that only a license gives, and those are covered below.

A Second DWI Is Usually a Class A Misdemeanor

Under Texas Penal Code § 49.09(a), a DWI is a Class A misdemeanor, with at least 30 days in jail, when the person has one prior conviction for DWI or a similar offense such as boating while intoxicated. The top of the range is one year in county jail and a $4,000 fine. A prior conviction for intoxication manslaughter is treated differently and makes the new charge a felony. Our article on Texas DWI charges and penalties covers every charge level.

The class of the charge matters here because the handgun licensing law is written around it.

What DPS Does to Your License While the Case Is Pending

Texas Government Code § 411.187(a)(1) says DPS shall suspend a License to Carry when the holder is charged with a Class A or Class B misdemeanor. The statute does not wait for a conviction.

• How long it lasts. For a pending charge, the suspension runs “until dismissal of the charges” (§ 411.187(c)(3)). There is no set number of days. The license follows the criminal case.
• The hearing. You can ask for a hearing in writing. The request has to reach DPS in Austin before the 30th day after you receive the notice (§ 411.180(a)). The hearing is held in a justice court in the county where you live.
• Surrender. If you do not ask for a hearing, you must surrender the license to DPS within 10 days of receiving the notice (§ 411.187(b)).

A first DWI charge triggers the same suspension, since a first DWI is at least a Class B misdemeanor. A first DWI conviction also leads to revocation and a five-year bar. What a second conviction can add is a longer bar, covered below.

Texas Does Not Require a License to Carry a Handgun

This is the part many license holders miss. Since September 1, 2021, Texas has not required a license to carry a handgun. Texas Penal Code § 46.02 looks at who is carrying and how. In general, you may carry without a license if you are 21 or older and the law does not prohibit you from carrying or possessing a firearm. The handgun has to be concealed or in a holster, and the rules about intoxication, other crimes, prohibited places, and court orders still apply.

The statute sets the age at 21. After a 2022 federal court ruling, DPS stopped turning away license applicants who are 18 to 20 on age alone, as its eligibility FAQ explains.

The people who are prohibited include:

• A person convicted of assault causing bodily injury, deadly conduct, terroristic threat, or disorderly conduct involving a firearm, if the offense was committed in the past five years (§ 46.02(a)(2)(B))
• A person with a felony conviction, under the rules in § 46.04(a)
• A person convicted of a Class A misdemeanor assault against a family or household member, until five years after release from confinement or from community supervision following that conviction, whichever is later (§ 46.04(b))
• A person who is subject to certain protective orders (§ 46.04(c))
• A person barred from having a firearm by federal law

A misdemeanor DWI is not on that list. Neither is a pending DWI charge, and neither is a suspended license.

So a License to Carry that is suspended over a pending second DWI does not, by itself, stop you from carrying a handgun under Texas law. The suspension takes the license. It does not make you a prohibited person.

Permitless carry does not change the prohibited-place rules in Section 46.03. Apart from narrow exceptions written into the statute, those places include schools, courts and court offices, polling places on election day or during early voting, and businesses that make 51 percent or more of their income from alcohol sold for drinking on site.

What the Suspension Still Changes

The license still does work that permitless carry does not do.

You Lose the License Exception to Section 46.02

Section 46.15(b)(6) says Section 46.02 does not apply to a person who is carrying a License to Carry and a handgun that is concealed or in a holster. Do not count on a suspended license to do that for you. While the suspension lasts, unless some other exception in the statute applies, the rules in Section 46.02 govern how you carry. Two of them matter most to a person with a pending DWI:

• Carrying while intoxicated. Under § 46.02(a-6), it is an offense to carry a handgun while intoxicated unless you are on your own property or property you control, on private property with the owner’s consent, or inside of or directly on the way to your own vehicle or one you have permission to be in.
• A handgun in the car during another offense. Under § 46.02(a-1)(2)(A), it is an offense to carry a handgun on or about your person in a vehicle you own or control while you are engaged in criminal activity other than a Class C traffic offense. A DWI is not a Class C traffic offense.

Each of those is a Class A misdemeanor on its own (§ 46.02(b)). A person whose license is suspended and who is arrested for another DWI while carrying a handgun in the car can face a weapons charge on top of it.

College Campuses

The campus carry exception in § 46.03(a)(1)(B) covers a concealed handgun “that the person is licensed to carry.” Do not count on a suspended license for it. Unless another exception applies, having a handgun on campus premises is a third-degree felony.

School Zones Under Federal Law

Federal law restricts having a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school. One exception is for a person licensed by the state where the school is located (18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)(B)(ii)). Do not count on a suspended license for that exception.

Other States

States that honor a Texas license honor a valid one. Check the law of any state you plan to carry in before you travel.

A Court Order Controls, With or Without a License

Permitless carry does not override a judge.

When you are released on bond, a magistrate can set “any reasonable condition of bond related to the safety of a victim of the alleged offense or to the safety of the community” (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 17.40). Some bond orders prohibit possessing a firearm while the case is pending. If yours does, that order controls, and a violation can get your bond revoked and put you back in custody.

On a second DWI, expect an ignition interlock as a bond condition as well. Article 17.441 requires one for a subsequent DWI charge unless the magistrate finds it would not be in the best interest of justice.

The same goes for probation. If the case ends in community supervision, the judge sets the conditions, and they can restrict firearms for as long as the supervision lasts.

Read your bond conditions before you carry. If you cannot tell what they allow, ask your lawyer.

If the Second DWI Ends in a Conviction

A pending charge suspends the license. A conviction revokes it. Section 411.186(a)(3) requires DPS to revoke a license when the holder becomes ineligible under § 411.172, and a second DWI conviction can make a person ineligible in two ways:

• The five-year rule. A person convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor in the past five years is not eligible (§ 411.172(a)(8)).
• The two-in-ten rule. A person “convicted two times within the 10-year period” before applying, of a Class B or greater offense that has alcohol or a controlled substance as an element, is treated as a chemically dependent person and is not qualified for a license (§ 411.172(c)). Two DWI convictions inside ten years fit that definition.

A deferred adjudication on the first DWI generally counts. For licensing purposes, “convicted” includes an order of deferred adjudication (§ 411.171(4)). There are exceptions for a case that was later expunged, pardoned, set aside, or sealed, and for some orders entered ten or more years ago (§ 411.1711). Have your lawyer look at the actual paperwork before you count a case one way or the other.

After a revocation, § 411.186(c) lets a person reapply after the second anniversary of the revocation if the reason for it no longer exists on that date. If the reason still exists then, the person has to wait until it has been gone for two years.

Even so, a misdemeanor DWI conviction does not, by itself, put you on the prohibited list in § 46.02 or § 46.04. You lose the license and what comes with it. You do not lose the right to own a handgun or to carry one under the permitless carry law, though a probation condition that restricts firearms still controls while you are on supervision.

A Third DWI Is Different

A third DWI is ordinarily a third-degree felony under § 49.09(b), and a felony conviction brings firearm bans that a misdemeanor does not:

• Under § 46.04(a), a person convicted of a felony may not possess a firearm until five years after release from confinement or from community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, whichever is later. After that, Texas allows possession only at the premises where the person lives.
• A person barred under § 46.04(a) can also face a separate unlawful carrying charge when the elements of § 46.02(a-7) are met. That offense is a second-degree felony with a five-year minimum prison term (§ 46.02(e)(1)).
• Federal law bars a person convicted of a felony from possessing any firearm or ammunition (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)), and the Texas at-home rule does not change that.
• A felony conviction ends eligibility for a License to Carry (§ 411.172(a)(3)).

On firearms, a second DWI costs you a license. A third can cost you the right to have a gun at all. For more, see Is a DWI a Felony in Texas? and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

What to Do Now

• Keep the DPS notice and write down the date you received it. The time to ask for a hearing runs from that date.
• Read your bond conditions. Look for anything about firearms, alcohol, and the ignition interlock.
• Do not carry a handgun when you have been drinking.
• Stay off college campuses with a handgun until the license is back, and check the law before you carry in another state.
• Bring the license question to your lawyer early. It belongs in the first conversation about the DWI case.

If you are facing a second DWI in Collin County and you hold a License to Carry, call Starr Law, P.C. in McKinney at (214) 982-1408 to ask about a free, confidential consultation. The front desk will get you scheduled, and Kent Starr handles the consultation himself. You can also read more about DWI defense in Collin County.

This article is general information about Texas law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts.