open carry

[Liko81]

Open carry may eventually be legal, if we keep moving in the direction we're going. But it may take many years. As people become more comfortable with the idea that people around them are armed, and concealed carry becomes more and more common, and more people become comfortable with it, we gradually move toward a society where everyone knows many are armed and no one really thinks about it. THEN it will gradually become irrelevant whether or not the weapons are concealed. And we can have serious consideration of legalizing open carry of handguns.

Long guns are legal to open carry. Hardly anyone does. I don't hear stories of gang-bangers strolling around with shotguns and rifles. They probably prefer to have their weapons concealed in most cases for a number of reasons.

Mostly because it is not difficult to make the argument that someone walking down the street with a shotgun or rifle is bransishing, because they are openly displaying the weapon with the intent to intimidate. It's also legal to OC a rifle because it's nigh on impossible to conceal a legal rifle on your person so making OC illegal would make it impossible for you to legally move it between store, car and home.

People like a low profile; that's the major remaining reason we can't OC handguns and the primary reason we don't OC rifles. You gotta admit an OCed handgun is high-profile. It's different from other head-turners like a rare car or barely-there dress because of the fact that it is a gun. The less that makes a difference in the public eye, the more accepting the public will be even if it still turns heads.

[anygunanywhere]

You gotta admit an OCed handgun is high-profile. It's different from other head-turners like a rare car or barely-there dress because of the fact that it is a gun. The less that makes a difference in the public eye, the more accepting the public will be even if it still turns heads.

Liko, I must disagree.

A handgun that is open carried is not a head turner nor high profile. The number of times I have open carried have never been high profile. No one even noticed. No one cared.

I have seen handguns OCed in Texas. I assume them to be LEO. I never recall anyone running away screaming in fright. There is even a post on THR about Texas citizens in Alpine area OCing. Cowboys in town with their pistols in plain view of DPS troopers. Sounds credible to me since it is Texas.

It would work in downtown League City too.

The most noticeable issues of open carry will be:

1. The debate in the legislature if it ever hits the floor.
2. The lies perpetrated by the infringers - the "blood in the streets" gang.
3. The lies published by the press.

If OC was quietly legalized you would hear very little. The sheep do not care. The sheep only care when they are stampeded by fright - the screaming anguish of the infringers.

Anygun

Edited because I had a really good brainstorm.

[WildBill]

I never recall anyone running away screaming in fright.

I have heard this arguement countless times about open carry as well as CHLers printing. I have yet to hear about any time that it actually happened.

[aardwolf]

It's also legal to OC a rifle because it's nigh on impossible to conceal a legal rifle on your person so making OC illegal would make it impossible for you to legally move it between store, car and home.

Did you know the law for rifles didn't change when they passed the concealed handgun license law?

Until recently (car carry) the law for hanguns didn't change much in 100 years for most people. (not a LEO or CHL)

P.S. Boxes, gun cases, golf bags and blankets are things I used to conceal a rifle.

[Liko81]

A handgun that is open carried is not a head turner nor high profile. The number of times I have open carried have never been high profile. No one even noticed. No one cared.

I doubt nobody noticed (especially if you were in public-public like a grocery store or downtown while OCing), but if nobody cared, then that's great, and it goes to my point; whether it turns heads or not, if nobody objects to it then there's no problem.

If the DPS don't care in Alpine, fine, but you bet the rent that the Metroplex, Houston, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso PDs are going to do more than bat an eyelash. I find it very hard to believe that League City would not care about OC up towards Clear Lake or down by the docks. The public in the big cities must accept it just like the country boys in order for OC to have the necessary public support, and that change will be slow in coming when city PDs have to deal with places like Oak Cliff or East Austin and people nearby hear about shootings every day on the evening news. You and I both know that guns in lawful owners' hands would reduce crime in those areas, but how are you gonna tell 3 million Dallasites that the solution to the problems in Oak Cliff is to put MORE guns in Oak Cliff?

If OC were "quietly" legalized it'd mean the Brady bunch have moved out of Texas. I'd cheer that day, but it ain't gonna happen. They condemn Texas gun laws every day, and you bet they keep an eye on legislative proceedings. They screamed bloody murder over permitless CC in vehicles and the Castle Doctrine, which passed because nobody listened to them. This is a very good thing; public opinion in Texas does not side with the Bradys. But I think the public, especially the big-city public, would not be so apathetic to open carry. I would be very happy to be proven wrong, however.

[aardwolf]

A good first step is to change 46.035 so an offense under subsection (a) is a class c misdemeanor. Even better, make it a $20 civil penalty like a parking ticket.

[Charles L. Cotton]

If open carry were to pass in Texas, the media would make sure it didn't happen quietly. As we approached January 1, 1996, when Texas CHLs became effective, every TV and radio station in Houston was making sure their views/listeners knew it! Blood in the streets, Dodge City, etc. was right around the corner.

If open carry were to pass in Texas, they would do likewise, but the big difference is people will be able to look for guns openly carried, unlike concealed carry. I've already given my position on OC and the political reasons for it, so I won't repeat it (hint, hint). But whatever may be your opinion, don't base it on even the slightest chance that open carry would become the law without huge media attention and the fallout that comes with the TV cameras in grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

Chas.

[Keith B]

If open carry were to pass in Texas, the media would make sure it didn't happen quietly. As we approached January 1, 1996, when Texas CHLs became effective, every TV and radio station in Houston was making sure their views/listeners knew it! Blood in the streets, Dodge City, etc. was right around the corner.

If open carry were to pass in Texas, they would do likewise, but the big difference is people will be able to look for guns openly carried, unlike concealed carry. I've already given my position on OC and the political reasons for it, so I won't repeat it (hint, hint). But whatever may be your opinion, don't base it on even the slightest chance that open carry would become the law without huge media attention and the fallout that comes with the TV cameras in grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

Chas.

Not to mention almost everyone has a video camera hanging on their belt or in their purse these days in the form of a cell phone. You Tube would be full of videos of 'gun-toting crazys' walking around the stores and streets, and the media/anti's would have a field day promoting those.

[WildBill]

It's almost time for zombies to take over this thread again.

[anygunanywhere]

If open carry were to pass in Texas, the media would make sure it didn't happen quietly. As we approached January 1, 1996, when Texas CHLs became effective, every TV and radio station in Houston was making sure their views/listeners knew it! Blood in the streets, Dodge City, etc. was right around the corner.

If open carry were to pass in Texas, they would do likewise, but the big difference is people will be able to look for guns openly carried, unlike concealed carry. I've already given my position on OC and the political reasons for it, so I won't repeat it (hint, hint). But whatever may be your opinion, don't base it on even the slightest chance that open carry would become the law without huge media attention and the fallout that comes with the TV cameras in grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

Chas.

Absolutely. I agree. When the media starts their predictable response, we will have years of "no blood in the streets" to prove they are wrong.

All pro-RKBA Texans must back the legislation.

Anygun

[anygunanywhere]

Not to mention almost everyone has a video camera hanging on their belt or in their purse these days in the form of a cell phone. You Tube would be full of videos of 'gun-toting crazys' walking around the stores and streets, and the media/anti's would have a field day promoting those.

If this was true why is it not done in the other 44 states that allow OC? I would really like to see what happens when someone starts snapping a picture of an LEOs OC weapon.

Anygun

[seamusTX]

We keep having the same argument, but I want to support Anygun. I see plain-clothes law enforcement carrying all the time around the county courthouse -- mainly in restaurants. No one reacts. Not even the out-of-state tourists.

I have had people come to my house while I was carrying in an OWB holster with no cover garment, and they didn't notice. I think you would have to be carrying a stainless-steel .45 with pearl grips to be noticed.

- Jim

[DoubleJ]

them thar grips're pretty nice looin', fellar. That'd likely be the response.

[aardwolf]

As long as people are civil and don't cuss, what's the big deal if the same arguments are repeated over and over and over and over and over and . . .

People don't have to read every message. I don't reload so I don't read any of the reloading posts. If people are tired of the open carry discussion there's a lots of other choices.

[Keith B]

As long as people are civil and don't cuss, what's the big deal if the same arguments are repeated over and over and over and over and over and . . .

People don't have to read every message. I don't reload so I don't read any of the reloading posts. If people are tired of the open carry discussion there's a lots of other choices.

For one reason the moderators have to read all of the posts, so the threads make it harder and harder for us to keep up.

Threads with valid discussions and new information are welcome and requested. However, just trying to win one more to your side of the issue when it has been debated over and over on the forum again and again and again is not productive use of the medium for the readers OR the mods.