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stevie_d_64 wrote: BTW, you remember Quannell X during the Republican convention here a while back???

His minions loaded up (long rifles and shotguns) and strutted their stuff around "outside" the GRB in Houston and even assaulted an old man I remember right on TV who confronted them...And amazingly...Nothing happened to them...

I do remember that and it's a great example of what I fear. Nothing happened to them because it wasn't illegal to carry a rifle or shotgun at a political rally or event. I don't have time to look at it now, but I'm pretty sure the preemption statute was amended during the first legislative session after this event. The amendment authorized cities to prohibit the possession of any firearm during a parade or political rallies. (This didn’t apply to CHL’s.). The bill passed solely because the public recoiled at a group of people doing what was perfectly legal -- carrying a long gun.

Chas.

Whew, for a while I thought I made a mistake by posting. It's good to see more posts on this subject. There have been good discussions on both the practical and tactical aspect of open carry and I just wanted to touch on the political impact.

I also want to correct a factual error in my original post on open carry. I stated that Florida changed their law to allow open carry, but amended it in less than a year to return to concealed carry only. When I called to learn the reason for the change, I was told my information was incorrect and that Florida has not allowed open carry in many years. I apologize for the bad information.

Yes, many states allow open carry, but I am not aware of any that only recently changed their law to allow it. I may be mistaken, but if so I suspect such states are very few in number. I also suspect that no other state has gone from a 125+ year ban on open carry to allowing it. That is why I feel that other states' experience is not necessarily a good indicator of what we can expect in Texas.

I also have serious doubts as to how many states that technically don’t prohibit open carry actually see a great deal of open carry occurring. Texas doesn’t prohibit the carrying of long guns, so in theory I could walk into my downtown Houston office every day with an AR-15 slung over my shoulder. Buy in my 25+ years of having an office in downtown Houston I have never seen anyone carrying a long gun; not once! For that matter, I can’t recall the last time I’ve seen anyone openly carrying a rifle or shotgun anywhere in Houston. Rural areas are different, but our major cities have huge voting blocks and that’s a fact we simply can’t ignore.

Those who argue that there was no "blood-in-the-streets" after CHL passed are absolutely correct. That was a ludicrous argument that has proven to be false. But that has nothing to do with a store owner or manager watching his/her sales revenue going down because the soccer moms won't shop there because he won't post a 30.06 sign and stop "those people" from carrying guns. Also, the tremendous success of the CHL statute, and even the passage of SB501, hasn't stopped governmental entities and agencies from posting unenforceable 30.06 signs. It hasn't stopped some Texas cities from posting a 30.06 sign and declaring entire buildings (ex. city hall) off-limits to CHL's simply because the municipal court clerk has a small office somewhere in the building. The open carrying of handguns captured on videotape by anti-gun activists, especially those in the news media, will once again thrust the carrying of handguns by citizens into the public eye. Can you imagine the bad press we'd see if Houston's rabid anti-gun Ch. 2 TV followed people into stores, malls, school parking lots and daycare centers?

Our carrying of handguns is not being seriously attacked now because people don't give it a second thought. They don't give it a second thought because 1) the predicted genocide did not occur and our opponents lost face; and 2) people don't see our guns.

I realize I'm in the minority with this opinion and I respect those who disagree with me on this issue. This is one time when I'd like very much to be wrong and I may be just that. Those who believe open carry will not have any ill effects on our ability to carry handguns could also be wrong. Perhaps we should all consider this; where does the greater risk lie? Be careful what you ask for, . . .

I also want to say this. If the decision is made to push for open carry, I will put aside my concerns and fight for its passage just a diligently as I work for passage of the CHL bill. I just hope people will stake a step back and fully consider the risks this path may present. Do we really want open carry at any cost?

Chas.

As I've already stated, I'm against open carry for one reason only - the reaction we are likely to see not only from the hard line anti-gunners, but also from those who don't have strong opinions one way or another. The sight of people carrying guns in stores, restaurants, zoos, theaters and everywhere else CHL's go now is going to create an issue where none currently exists. Some argue that people will just get used to it, but even if that is true, at what cost? How many restrictions on carrying will be implemented before they "get used to it?"

Let me ask these rhetorical questions. Would you continue to support open carry if it resulted in large numbers of businesses posting 30.06 signs on their property?

Would you continue to support open carry if it resulted in the Legislature expanding the number of locations that are statutorily off-limits to license-holders, as is the case in many other states?

It's been 11 years since SB60 passed and Texas finally got a CHL statute. Let's not forget how radical the idea of citizens carrying guns was only a little over a decade ago. Don’t underestimate the value of the out-of-sight-out-of-mind effect that concealing our handguns has on the 98% of Texans who haven't chosen to get a CHL.

Chas.