Texans Push for Open Carry License
December 12th, 2008 . by TexasFredFrom my Texas blogging buddy and fellow gun lover, Concerned Citizen over at Judging Truth, I give you:
Texans Push for Open Carry License
Ever since Texas passed it Concealed Handgun License the state has seen a sharp decrease in violent, property and petty crimes. Now there is an organized movement to expand the right of licensed gun owners on several fronts. Currently there are two pushes in this state to change the laws surrounding the carrying of weapons. The first one is targeted at eliminating the restrictions for carrying a weapon on college campuses and the second is an attempt to completely change the Texas Concealed Handgun Licence into an Open Carry one.The first challenge to the current Texas law has been gaining ground for a quite while and is supported by organizations such as Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), a group that is fighting for the rights of students in several states to lawfully carry weapons on to college campuses. Their most recent action was filing a suit with current and former Colorado University students challenging the university’s ban on weapons. (Press release) The strong push from students has prompted the Texas legislature to review the law in the next session beginning in January. Students in Texas argue that the prohibition of weapons on college campuses creates gun free zones that are easily targeted by the criminal element and by those intending to cause as much harm as possible in desperate acts such as was seen at Virginia Tech last year. The further argue that by denying them their constitutional right to protect themselves and by failing to provide adequate security for the campuses, the law places them at undue risk. This argument has found sweeping support among students and apparently increasing support among law makers during the last session. With the Texas gubernatorial seat facing a clear challenge in the next election, this could easily become a strong campaign issue. I will be watching the developments on this and reporting on them as they occur.
The second and potentially most impacting challenge to the Texas Concealed Handgun Law, comes in the form of petition to change Texas to an Open Carry state. Currently, the Texas law requires the possession of a firearm for licensed persons only if the firearm is completely concealed from view. More and more states are converting to some form of Open Carry status for firearm owners, whether it be licensed such as Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, and Tennessee; or a permissive form of Open Carry such as Arizona, Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming. The movement in Texas is supported by a group known as OpenCarry.org who has begun a petition directed at Governor Rick Perry demanding that the State of Texas recognize the rights of its citizens to carry openly in public.
The petition can be found here: Open Carry of Handguns in TexasThere are almost 47,500 signatures on the petition at this time, including mine. There will be several more when I tell my family and friends about this effort. I encourage all of you who believe in the natural, God given right to self-protection and self-preservation and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms, to go and sign this petition, but most assuredly those of you who live in the State of Texas need your names on this document.
I will be closely watching this issue as well and reporting here as things develop.
Please read Judging Truth regularly, you won’t be disappointed unless you’re some kind of whiny-assed, anti-gun libtard!
Cross Posted at: The Texas Connection
“Please read Judging Truth regularly, you won’t be disappointed unless you’re some kind of whiny-assed, anti-gun libtard!”
Or some Long Beach reform school, liberal, faux intellectual pipe smoking professor that can’t stay off of your blog. LMAO
Yeah… That too…
What can we do to help the students ?? What can we do to regain our Constitutional rights?? (Yes, I signed the petition)
I would sign, but I am not sure if it is appropriate for me, since I am not a citizen yet. But as a green card holder I am eligible for a CC as it is, just don’t have one yet. Got to get my shoulder on the mend first.
And of course I fully support both open carry and would go further, a licensed individual, such as those with CC, can carry anywhere, anytime with a single condition, the person shall not be under the influence of any narcotics or alcohol. Zero tolerance!
So if you are going out with friends, carry or drink, your choice.
Tom
Tom, Minnesota allows some drinking of alcoholic beverages while carrying. 0.04% BAC is their max limit. They treat it as serious as a DWI/DUI. What that means is that a person can have one, maybe two beverages of their choice, should they so choose. (That all depends on body weight, recent meals, etc) They have had NO problems with people carrying under the influence as MOST people that carry don’t usually drink while carrying. (That’s really NOT a good thing IF one is forced to draw down and/or shoot somebody). There was ONE instance where a man was at a bar, got in some sort of fracas, went to his vehicle or home, got his weapon, returned and killed somebody. He DID have a permit to carry, so he KNEW the law. He chose to ignore it. He’s in prison right now.
Fred, thanks for the link and the kind words. Oh and even if you are some kind of whiny-assed, anti-gun libtard as you suggested, or some Long Beach reform school, liberal, faux intellectual pipe smoking professor that can’t stay off of your blog like Henry was talking about… Come read anyway. I love target practice.