From the petition:
4. It is well known that the requirement to conceal a handgun for the purpose of protecting self, friends, and family can be difficult especially in Texas with our extreme heat since a person will usually have to wear a jacket to properly conceal a handgun and to avoid "printing."
This is untrue. I have been carrying concealed in TX for the last 6 years and have no problem whatsoever concealing a handgun year round, even in the hottest weather without wearing a jacket.
Anyone ever heard of "a vest"?
7. Ten states including Arizona, Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming all allow open carry of handguns without a license. Twelve states including Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and Tennessee allow open carry of handguns with a license. In fact, Texas is one of only SIX states in the entire United States that completely bans open carry of handguns.
This is not true. TX does not "completely" ban open carry. There are a number of exceptions to the law banning OC.
And the list of states allowing licensed OC is highly misleading. In RI, where I lived for 50 years, OC with a license is technically legal but if you do it you will be arrested on sight. The exception is if you are a uniformed security guard. If you are not in uniform, you will be arrested under the statute that allows a LEO to arrest anyone who he has a reasonable belief is in violation of a weapons law.
§ 11-47-28 Arrest and detention for possession of firearms. – Every officer authorized to make an arrest may, without complaint and warrant, arrest any person who has in his or her possession any firearm whenever the officer has reasonable ground to suspect that the person possesses or is using or is carrying the firearm contrary to law. Any person so arrested may be detained a reasonable time, not exceeding twenty-four (24) hours, for the purpose of making an investigation concerning the person, but no person so arrested shall be detained longer than twenty-four (24) hours without complaint being made against him or her before some proper court or justice. If the officer making the arrest shall at any time within the twenty-four (24) hours satisfy himself or herself that there is no ground for making a criminal complaint against the person, he or she shall be discharged from custody.
Since less than 1/2 of 1% of RI adults have carry permits, that means that the cop can have "reasonable grounds" (that you are carrying without a license) about anybody they see carrying a gun on the street at any time. And they do.
What happens is that you get arrested and brought to the station. Showing your permit does no good. (It could have been revoked.) While they hold you they take their time checking you out. (The law allows them to hold you for 24 hours before either charging you or letting you go.) When your permit checks out they let you go.
And if you do it again the next day, they arrest you again. (Your permit could have been revoked overnight.)
The RI courts have never had a problem with this. The cops have never been sued for harrassment.
You OC in RI and you're gonna get busted
every time.
MA is a little different but not much. OC in any urban area, and you're going for a ride. About the only time you won't get busted is if you are in the field handgun hunting, in season, and with the proper hunting license.
And I find it hard to believe that OC in gun-hating MD or NJ is trouble free either.
8. In these states, Open carry is very common and it does not alarm law enforcement or other citizens.
Another blatent falsehood.
OC isn't common ANYWHERE, not even in "friendly" AZ, NH, or VT, all of whiich I have visited (especially NH and VT in my New England days). Wearing blue jeans is "common". Eating at Mickey D's is "common". When someone can show me an urban area where people OC as often as they wear blue jeans, eat at Mickey's, or go to the movies, I'll agree that it is common.
Go to any urban area in ANY STATE and shoot some street scene video. Then count up the number of people you see OCing. Then tell me how "common" it is.
And the idea that OCing "does not alarm law enforcement or other citizens" in the licensed open carry states listed is another whopper.
In my hometown in RI (Pawtucket), a bus driver saw (from his high vantage point) a guy adjusting the position of his holster while both were sitting in traffic. The bus driver called the cops, who subsequently followed the guy for a while. (No doubt they were running his plate to see if he was a cop.) In due course, they executed a felony stop and pulled the guy out of his car at gunpoint. The guy had a fully valid RI Pistol Permit.
In RI, if the wind blows your jacket or vest back, or it gets bunched up and accidently exposes your piece, and someone calls the cops, you're gonna get busted. I have seen this happen on a number of occassions.
So much for "...does not alarm law enforcement or other citizens".
MA is no different. And would anyone believe that OC is common and does not alarm law enforcement in gun-hating NJ or MD? Again, take a camera crew and shoot some video of a licensed OCer in NJ and MD, walking around in a large city while OCing. I'll call the cops and we'll see how they respond.
Finally, I favor OC being legal in TX and elsewhere.
I would support and sign the petition if it stuck to facts. I would not OC very often myself, but I favor it being legal.
But putting out inaccurate and misleading nonsense like the sections cited above just destroys the credibility of the petitioners and hurts the cause of OC.
Signed. Someone make one for florida!
