Open Carry in Texas?

Blog / December 2, 2008

We’ve got concealed carry.

One group wants concealed carry on campus.

But what about the idea of OPEN CARRY IN TEXAS?  Personally, I’m all for it.  I never felt safer during my internship in the DC area than the time I went to dinner with a dear friend in Alexandria, Virginia and strapped right on his side was his most prized posession…a handgun!

WOAI has the story:

A group supporting open carry legislation in the upcoming session begins running radio ads in San Antonio today, urging citizens to sign an on line petition at http:// www.opencarry.org which will encourage lawmakers to approve an open carry law.

Mike Stollenwerk, founder of opencarry.org, says it would be a crime fighting tool.

 
"If someone is open carrying and a criminal sees that, usually they’re going to go away," Stollenwerk said.

More out of the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

They’re setting their sights on Texas and coming out firing.

More than a month before the legislative session starts Jan. 13, gun-rights supporters are asking state lawmakers to pass an "open carry" law to let Texans stop covering up the guns they carry and wear them openly.

They are putting their message on billboards, on banners on cabs and in radio ads, asking others to sign on to the cause.

"We are targeting Texas," said Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of www.opencarry.org, a champion of the growing nationwide effort. "Texas is probably the most pro-gun state, but doesn’t have open-carry laws.

"As Texans realize how restrictive their rights are . . . there will be an awakening. Get ready for a showdown in Austin come January."

Texas is somewhat of an open-carry battleground because it is one of only six states where handguns cannot, in some form, legally be worn in plain view. Texas residents may carry concealed handguns if they have a permit.

More than 28,000 people have signed an online petition asking Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to make Texas an open-carry state.