Its NOT a good idea to use such laws. While Texas does recognize citizen's arrest, One must be careful to have "Probable Cause" that a person committed a felony or a misdemeanor which is a breach of the peace as requisite. Because of the fact that a judge will determine "probable cause" on a case by case basis, and because of the fact that most citizens aren't trained to know exactly what does and does not constitute a "felony" or a "misdemeanor which constitutes a breach of the peace" (the latter being especially a term of legal art), as well as not being trained as to exactly what you have to have to constitute "probable cause" in most cases it's a bad idea to make a citizens arrest absent a forcible felony such as attempted murder, felony battery, or rape, because of the fact you can be charged with felony criminal confinement and battery if a court of law later determines that you made a citizen's arrest without "probable cause" to arrest the person. Also worth noting, is that if you are sued, unlike the police, you ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT get "qualified immunity" against suit for excessive force and other constitutional violations that can easily accompany an otherwise lawful arrest, because citizens are barred from claiming "qualified immunity" as a matter of federal law. This means that you can also stand to loose quite a bit of money, even if a citizen's arrest is lawful.
Also, the use of handcuffs and "arrest" are separate and distinct concepts under the case law- the term "arrest" means to deprive a person of liberty to answer for a criminal charge. A police officer can use handcuffs to "detain" someone for investigation prior to making an "arrest" for reasons of "officer safety", etc. A citizen, however, does not have the right to "detain" outside of an "arrest". Thus the use of handcuffs by a civilian will likely be charged as felony battery with a weapon. (because handcuffs are deemed a "weapon" in the common law.) Also, even though a citizen has a right to make an arrest, a citizen, once such an arrest is made, may not move the person arrested from the location of the arrest without having committed felony kidnapping by definition of statute. Essentially, if one makes a bad citizens arrest by not following the citizens arrest law to the T, then one will be likely be facing felony charges of their own.
In summation, its a good idea not to make a citezen's[sic] arrest while in possession of a firearm, because of the fact that there are criminal enhancement charges where one comitts[sic] any felony offense while in posession[sic] of a firearm, and even if you shoot someone while making a citizen's arrest in "self defense", one could still face "felony murder" charges if one is found to have violated the citizen's arrest law in a manner that constitutes a felony. (felony murder law makes it first-degree murder to cause a death while in the commission of any felony offense, and notably, "self defense" is NOT a defense to felony murder).
