If you think Texas carry laws still suck mightily, please visit some of the large dark blue states. If Texas' carry laws suddenly appeared here, we'd all think we had died and gone straight to heaven.
Texas carry laws aren’t hugely better than those in the worst blue states. They’re worse than those in most of the west with the exception of Cali. Even the carry laws in Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware are better.
The Texas concealed carry permit is expensive, requires fingerprints and a photo, plus an approved training class. There is no open carry without a permit. Contrast this with such liberal enclaves as Vermont. Vermont never has required a permit for open or concealed carry. Well maybe that’s just an anomaly. But then there is Maine: they just chucked their permit requirement. Constitutional carry. New Hampshire charges $10 or $15 for their in state permit. Open carry without a permit is legal. They would have Constitutional Carry as well, but their idiot governor vetoed the bill earlier this year.
The upshot is that while Texas talks the talk when it comes to carry, it doesn’t walk the talk.