Texas Open Carry of Handguns

The recent news that the State of Texas is considering allowing our citizens to carry handguns openly has resulted in a slew of e-mail headed my way.

Including, by-the-by, one from an apparently confused Brady supporter who seems to have gotten his LawDogs mixed up.

But I digress.

What is my position on allowing the open carry of handguns in the Great State of Texas?

I'm all for it.

Options are good. Anything that gives law-abiding citizens more options and choices as to how they go about their everyday business is a Good Thing.

Oh, I've heard all the arguments: "Oh, sweet zombie Jeebus! It'll be the Wild West all over again!"

First off, the open-carrying Wild West had a murder rate considerably less than that of a modern big city -- so the return of the Good Old Days (and their lower murder rate) would actually be a Good Thing.

If you're thinking of Hollywood's hysterical, historically inaccurate, bushwa version of the Wild West -- well, the motto of Holly is "Willing Suspension of Disbelief". Just because Hollywood has shown me kids flying on brooms, talking battle bears and elephant-skating elven archers, it doesn't mean that I expect any of those things outside of the theatre.

And so it is with the whole "Wild West gun-fights-on-every-corner" argument: looks good on the big screen -- doesn't happen in Real Life.

Case(s) in point: Vermont has NO LAWS whatsoever regulating the carry of firearms, neither does Alaska. Citizens can open carry in those states without any interference by way of the Government -- at all.

When was the last time you heard of multiple street-corner gunfights in either of those two states?

In addition, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, Kentucky, West Virgina and Virginia already allow the open carry of firearms with neither permit nor licence required to do so.

I don't know about y'all, but when it comes to running gun battles on street corners, South Dakota and Wyoming aren't the first places that comes to mind.

Washington, DC and Chicago, now, do come to mind -- but open carry is forbidden to citizens in those places, so they really don't count.

The gutters haven't run chest-deep in blood due to law-abiding citizens open carrying firearms in any other state where open carry is allowed -- they're not going to overflow in Texas, either.

Open Carry in Texas has my support and my vote.

LawDog