I CANNOT believe you can't open carry in texas

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Tulsamal

If a cop puts me on the ground and a gun to my head, I hope to have witnesses. Because I'll be on the phone to my attorney about preferring charges against him. Likely for assault under the color of law, as well as aggravated menacing. The D.A. may drop those charges, but by that time he'll (the cop) will have been served on the Civil Charges. With a witness or even better, a security cam, he should have an interesting time defending himself. What you thought they get to just point a gun at you with out a reasonable belief that he was defending himself or another person? So why didn't he arrest you? No reason maybe? Exactly!
 
um

Some of the anti OC arguments are absurd.

I spent good money on some good holsters and belts but have to dress like a slob with an untucked shirt to conceal.

open carry isn't intimidating , girls in mini skirts are not "asking for it"
mixed race couples are not "flaunting it" when they hold hands.

The easy solution if you dislike OC is to not do it.

I own a pocket rocket in .25acp but I would rather use .357 to save my life
 
MY 02
With CC only the problem is here....if for some reason you loose your cover...ie..wind, bend over or reach up for something....the sheep around are not conditioned to seeing a civilian with a gun and they FREAK OUT or get scared and/or call the cops.....

However, with OC,
everyone is used to the sight of a gun on your hip and its nothing new to them so they dont freak out....not as bad anyway...

I think it would should by choice only...
I would at times CC and other times OC. whatever I felt like doin at the time
 
Hmm.. I don't think many people like what I had to say about OC. Believe me when I say that I'm all for guns and the 2nd amendment. I even chose to support the 2nd amendment for a semester-long English project..made the brochure and all. Just because I don't believe that the right to bear arms means flashing steel in public, doesn't mean my opinion should be counted as squat by some of you who'd rather open carry and let people know that you are carrying.

It's bad enough that alot of our public is ignorant to the issue of firearms and gun control in general, but I just don't think that flashing your gun and giving people heart-attacks in public is a good idea. "Police and security personnel" are one thing, but when a youngster just turns 18, gets his CC permit, and doesn't present himself well in public while being strapped with a handgun on his waist, how the heck are all those not-so-gun savvy people (pretty much everyone I've known besides me) supposed to take it?

I forgot his name, but a member here on THR has been making gun supportive pictures/ads and I think it's absolutely great. Educating the public is what needs to be done. The problem is we aren't there yet. You have to remember that the other 99% of the public has better things to do than to sit here all day long and read about guns on THR. LOL. I am the first to admit that I am almost totally desensitised to guns. I sit there all day long and cock and dry-fire all my pistols just because I have nothing better to do. Other people see my guns and their knees start shaking and they start yelling "OMG OMG OMG get it away from me." Sad, but true. Just because you are totally desensitised to guns doesn't mean everyone else is too.

As long as I'm still allowed to keep my guns on me, I have no problem with somebody telling me that I have to keep them hidden in public. At the very least it's a matter of respect to others who aren't as desensitised as we are. Call me a gun-grabber, but I just consider myself to be a respectful gun-loving citizen:)
 
Anyone know the reasoning behind this? Is it just because it can scare people? To me, it just seems rediculous. Anyones input is appreciated.
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like the rest of the US gun control law...its rooted in racism.

The law was enacted in the 1870's to make sure free black men couldn't carry firearms to defend themselves. The law was on the side of the lawman and the judge if a free black tried to carry.

Meanwhile, white lawmen and judges looked the other way when white man carried. Unless you were a white man they didn't like...in which case the law was on their side.
 
target1911: With CC only the problem is here....if for some reason you loose your cover...ie..wind, bend over or reach up for something....the sheep around are not conditioned to seeing a civilian with a gun and they FREAK OUT or get scared and/or call the cops.....
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My feelings precisely!
 
rino451: ETA don't know if it was mentioned before, but TX has open rifle carry. Not that you wouldn't get hassled.
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No kidding. I could walk around with an M-16 on my shoulder (provided I had a stamp for it) and be perfectly legal. But God forbid I should have a revolver on my hip! Go figure……..
 
I dont think I would open carry even if it was allowed.
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I don't think I would either. But that doesn't mean that loosening restrictive firearms law is a bad thing. Open carry works just fine in plenty of other states, and I don't think that there's anything unique about Texas to where open carry would be any more dangerous (or for that matter, less dangerous) here than any place else.
 
Constitutions

It seem, in practice at least, the state constitution on the subject has relevance. Even if we feel it shouldn't trump the US 2A

Texas State Constitution, Article I, Section
Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.
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Illinois State Constitution Article I Sec. 22
Right to Arms

Subject only to the police power, the right of the individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
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As opposed to say
Michigan State Constitution
Article I, Section 6:

Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state.
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I am over fifty ... I have a constitutional right to repeat myself

Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit is kinda like "concealed preferred"--
open carry is not illegal, accidental disclosure (wind blowing your
jacket open, etc) is not illegal, but concealed carry is encouraged.

Personally, even in the country on private land, I prefer to
carry a handgun concealed but I have carried openly and
prefer to have options open rather than closed.

I saw a guy carrying openly at a local store and thought little of it.
What a criminal might or might not do if he saw a citizen open
carrying is quite frankly unpredictable. Criminals tend to be
irrational and cowardly: I suspect most would leave. Massacres
ocurr in advertised "gun free zones" for a reason. The guy I
saw open carrying at the store: my first thought was he could
be an off-duty cop: why should I assume that a criminal might
not have the same thought?

In fact, instead of speculating about what criminals might think
or do, perhaps we should have a repeat of the Wright/Rossi
felon prison survey on these issues? Their first felon survey
showed felons feared an armed citizen more than arrest or
imprisonment and that a significant percentage of felons had
canceled planned crimes after learning the intended victim
was armed.

Being helpless, seeming to be helpless, begging for mercy, will
inflame some sadistic personalities far more than being openly
armed and prepared to defend yourself.

But to the thread open:
I cannot believe you can't open carry in Texas.
Perhaps not, but in Texas, Tennessee, Florida and most states
gun rights and self defense today are in a healthier position than
they were fifty or even twenty years ago.
 
Isn't it ironic that in the early Republic there was a great bias against "hidden guns" and bearing concealed weapons as a gentleman would have no reason to secret weaponry but would bear it openly. Now it seems that the bias has been turned on its head as the respectable sort would not alarm the peasantry-at-large by openly carrying a weapon.:)

More things change, more they stay the same.:)
 
Isn't it ironic that in the early Republic there was a great bias against "hidden guns" and bearing concealed weapons as a gentleman would have no reason to secret weaponry but would bear it openly.
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Good point, ET.

Maybe we should encourage the "gentlemanly art of carrying arms" ...? ;)
 
In Tennessee, legal transport is cased, with ammo in a seperate container,
locked in the trunk; open carry in the passenger compartment is "going
armed" and is illegal.

In Virginia, legal transport is open display in the passenger compartment;
carry in the trunk hidden away is "concealed carry" and is illegal.

Made it loads of fun driving from Tennessee to the gun club in Virginia
for a match and back. Virginia trooper advised me just to carry to the
club as required by my state of residence, but I still felt uneasy crossing
the stateline.

What was legal in one state was illegal in the other and vice versa.
No wonder I have little respect for gun laws or the people who write them.
 
I allways wondered the SAME thing. I would have been arrested for it if I didn;t call and check because being from New MExico, and having a CCW here, and it still being legal here to open carry, I WAS going to open carry in Te Has, but I canned Texas DPS, and asked for safeties sake, nope illegal, and they would not even attempt to tell me why....They tried to do that here in NM, and also tried to make it a FELONEY to do so but the voters wouldn't have it. We all complained that for those who couldn't afford the 300 dollar class, which it cost at first, and the LEOs wanting 100 bucks, some couldnt afford to get a CCW so had to still carry open!
 
SniperX, you are always subject to each individual states laws under a reciprocity agreement between states. As a Texas CHL holder, I would have to obey the CHL laws of New Mexico when I travel there. I would suggest that assuming can get you in a mess. Remember, Don't Mess With Texas!

I still haven't figured out why OC makes carrying better. 17 million Texas residents, less than 260,000 CHL holders. Who are they?

OC is easier than concealed, but that is the way it is for now. I'll take what I can get.
 
OC

I still haven't figured out why OC makes carrying better.
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It could give you more options. In Michigan you cannot CC in hospital, bar, etc. but you could legally open carry. I think Virginia has the same with restaurants serving alcohol and such.
 
Better and worse are subjective judgments.
OC isn't necessarily better than CC, but what gives anybody the right to tell me what I should do with my gun?
We, as gun owners, are already being treated like lepers and sex offenders. Why play into it?

Jefferson
 
Just to clarify a few points.

Texas gun laws are as good as the best states, and the nation. Since Texas doesn't regulate firearms in any way other than to follow federal law, which every state has to.

Texas does not allow cities to make up their own hodgepodge of nutty gun laws so you don't get silliness like Colorado - Denver nonsense.

Texas carry laws are NOT the best. We do have laws against carrying open in public. But you can carry open on private property, and this includes private businesses if you have permission. Many pawn shops and gun store employees carry open. Our CHL procedures are too expensive, and too time consuming. I want Vermont/Alaska type concealed carry.

We are working on it.

And we do allow private property owners to restrict concealed carry on their property, they just have to post according to the law. 30.06 signs to be precise. Imagine that, protecting property owners rights. What a bunch of commies us Texans are.

:D

And I doubt you will find a state with better self defense laws.
 
private property

And we do allow private property owners to restrict concealed carry on their property, they just have to post according to the law. 30.06 signs to be precise. Imagine that, protecting property owners rights. What a bunch of commies us Texans are.
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that is like: no shirt, no shoes, no service. = breaking the law, as opposed to an establishment refusing your business/trespassing.

Property owners rights are protected without making this specific act illegal, they can refuse anyone's business for ANY reason.
 
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