TX:Come and Take It means to Restore Open Carry Protections

Gun Watch ^ | 24 August, 2013 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Texas is fighting to take back freedoms taken from them during reconstruction.

[Dead Corpse]

Wish I was still in Texas.

[Standing Wolf]

Thank you for that article, marktwain! I didn't know the whole story.

[TexasGunLover]

What will happen in the next legislative session remains to be seen.

Not really. This movement has been going for at least the past 3 sessions (including this one), and isn't going to make any headway in Texas.

[marktwain]

You are welcome. I ferreted out most of it by myself over the years, but the Article by Stephen P. Halbrook is complete, scholarly, and well documented with extensive footnotes.

I highly recommend it.

[basil]

I’m a 7th generation Texan, and live in Texas.

I’m all for open carry, but want to have the right to chose how I carry. There are times that I prefer to carry concealed..........

[Dead Corpse]

Yes M’am. It is your Right, it should be your choice.

[Envisioning]

Thanks for posting....

We Texans need to work harder to get open carry passed so you at least have the option. Some days I get tired of IWB (inside the waistband), especially in the summer.

I finally just got rid of a bad heat rash, that lasted for a couple of weeks, that was shaped in the perfect outline of my Milt Sparks VM2 holster. LOL!

[Lurker]

You already have that right. What you don’t have is a government that respects that right.

[Windflier]

Come And Take It ping

[mylife]

Restore?

Has Texas ever had open carry?

[smokingfrog]

bump

[Jane Long]

Thanks for the ping!

[marktwain]

“Has Texas ever had open carry?”

If you read the article, they had it up until 1869. In the linked reference, they said that even slaves were not barred from carrying weapons before 1869, and that there was massive vote fraud and force used in the carpetbagger elections.

The Constitution of 1876 was supposed to fix the problem form 1869, but left in enough of a loophole for the legislature and courts to effectively nullify the right for arms worn on the person for over a hundred years.

[Texas Fossil]

Sec. 46.15. NONAPPLICABILITY.

(b) Section 46.02 does not apply to a person who:

(4) is engaging in lawful hunting, fishing, or other sporting activity on the immediate premises where the activity is conducted, or is en route between the premises and the actor's residence, if the weapon is a type commonly used in the activity;

Many hunters open carry between home and the place of hunting. A handgun seems appropriate when hunting, because of the threat of rattle snakes, hogs, etc. Will that hold with law enforcement in all counties? I doubt it. Locally, I am sure it is OK.

[smokingfrog]

Has Texas ever had open carry?

It's been awhile...

[marktwain]

I am sure that the law has been very selectively enforced for more than a hundred years.

[Texas Fossil]

Yep. I could open carry where I live and get into no trouble.

But my family has lived here since 1889. My brother was briefly married to the sister of the local constable. The constable and my brother have been friends since grade school.

The local constable is a bigger gun nut than anyone in my family. hee hee hee

But he is a good law man. He is low key and gets the job done. He does not harass the locals. That is as it should be.

[ziravan]

Rep Lavender’s HB 700 for open carry had 25 sponsors and co-sponsors but died. It will continue to die without going to Calendars so long as Straus controls Calendars.

One of the biggest setbacks to open carry is that TSRA won’t endorse it. They’ll tell you they don’t oppose it, but demanding it as a gutcheck on endorsement would go a long way to enable it. That they haven’t done.

Here are your Representatives in the Lege that are stand up on open carry:

Lavender | Paddie | White | Larson | Burkett
Coauthor: Bonnen, Dennis | Bonnen, Greg | Capriglione | Cook | Fallon | Flynn | Gooden | Hughes | King, Phil | King, Susan | Krause | Laubenberg | Leach | Miller, Rick | Phillips | Simmons | Thompson, Ed | Toth

The biggest advantage of Open Carry is that it eliminates inadvertant reveal being a crime, making concealed carry more practical.

In addition AZ has a law for defensive display which allows the display of a handgun to ward off its need for use. Right now, if you pull it out, it had better be to use it, or you’re committing a felony. I’d like to see a version of AZ’s defensive display in an open carry law.

[eartick]

Thanks for the Ping....

Something might happen next session if Strauss is removed since this has been up for several sessions now.

I just believe that we need to be given a choice whether to carry open or concealed.

I am going to look pretty bad a$$ if I have 3 pistols strapped on the outside showing......just saying