Posted on 11/17/2010 4:01:55 AM PST by marktwain
Recent Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed that the Second Amendment is a personal right. But according to one group, there’s still one hurdle to clear before that right is fully enjoyed.
The right to keep and bear arms is pretty well understood by most of us, but there is one area that is not. And it’s a kind of arms bearing that we all know well…thanks to Hollywood.
That’s right…we’ve seen it in a thousand movies. The long walk, the holstered guns…the ultimate confrontation…
But that’s the movies, right? You couldn’t possibly carry that way in real life, right?
Now, in Texas, there a couple of ways you can carry a pistol. You can now carry it in your car. Or, if you have a license, you can carry it concealed on your person. But what if you could carry it out in the open?
John Pierce founded OpenCarry.org, and from him we found out an interesting and little known fact…
There are 43 of the 50 states where open carry is permissible in one form or another.
That’s right, in all but 7 states in the union, you can walk down the street, go into a coffee shop, go shopping all while wearing a gun on your hip. Interestingly, the 7 states that that expressly forbid it, are mostly in the South.
Of course in the real west, there were laws against open carrying in most Texas cities, but Pierce says that’s not the intent of the Constitution.
Pierce says that Governor Rick Perry has promised to sign an open carry bill if it lands on his desk.
He says though that although some legislators are friendly to the idea, no one has stepped forward to propose the bill.
Hit one out of the park!
I find it hard to believe that Pennsylvania has open carry in all but ONE city ( Filthdelphia ) and Texas doesn’t have a statewide open carry law.
“Recent Supreme Court decisions have reaffirmed that the Second Amendment is a personal right. But according to one group, there’s still one hurdle to clear before that right is fully enjoyed. “
Not to quibble with the merits of the right to keep and bear arms. but the Federal court did not make that right, indeed it like all other rights including but not limited to the right to kill others, are inherit in our existence.
The Fact that we made no such secession of that right to the federal Government’s discretion does not means we made no such secession to our State governments.
But as it is clearly stated, or rather not Stated in most State Constitutions that no such secession was made, it is not within the prerogative of the State legislator to impose any law that would restrict our right to a gun in this area.
My Point is the Federal Court is wrong for imposing its edict, even thou its edict’s end result may be currently the case in pretty much every state for reasons that are beyond the domain of concern for the same Federal Court.
To allow the court this power and indeed embrace it as this article does is a dangerous thing that merely helps open and keep open the door to countless other evils.
Open carry ping!
Here in Nebraska, according to the state constitution, we are allowed open carry. Reality is if you are carrying open anywhere in the eastern half of the state (I don’t have personal knowledge of the western half) folks are going to call the cops if they see you walking around like that. When we passed the concealed carry bill a few years ago, entire towns passed local laws forbidding concealed carry. They talk about being so tough around here, but the reality is different.
I'll believe that when I see it.
It is unconstitutional for States to infringe on that right. The 2nd Amendment is not limited to the Federal government. It is one of the amendments which does NOT refer to Congress. The Second Amendment says "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Notice that it is "shall not be infringed" -- by anyone, period -- not the feds, not the states, not cities, not counties, not towns, now townships, not schools, not churches, not public transportation, not workplaces, not stores, not anyone, period! Unless a place can guarantee that self-defense will not be needed within that place, then our right to self defense by ourselves is guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
In places where it is nearly impossible to get a concealed carry permit, the criminal mugger/raper/carjacker knows his potential victim is defenseless. The crime is committed and the victim becomes a statistic.
In places where concealed carry permits are easily obtained, the same criminal must take the risk that his chosen victim is not armed. The crime is committed and either the criminal or the victim becomes a statistic.
In places where open carry is allowed, the criminal can plainly see that his chosen victim is armed. The crime is not even attempted. The statistician is bored.
We are planning a trip over Thanksgiving to east Texas.
I have a CCP and was advised by a local west Tennessee gendarme to carry my firearm in the seat under my left leg. Would that be permitted in Texas?
I hate the concealed carry laws in Texas. They basically make licensed possession of a handgun a felony if anyone can see your weapon. That's right, if a breeze blows your windbreaker off your 1911 shoulder holster and someone sees it, you've committed a crime.
It's a leftover from when Texas lost its collective effing mind and had that insane liberal woman Ann Richards as governor.
Looks like last July Arizona took over the title of the "real West."
Don't need no stinkin' permits here.
Although the law states the weapon must be "in plain sight", no one I know just keeps it on the seat, but rather under the seat or squeezed between them with the butt sticking out.
The conflict is with police when they pull you over. It is in your best interest, if you are pulled over and about to get a ticket, to hide the weapon so as to avoid alarm and death by cop.
I’m not familiar with the situation in TX, so I have to ask — Your advice, when pulled over by the police, is to start fumbling with your gun, and attempt to move the gun into a location where it would be considered to be illegally concealed?
In Pennsylvania open carry and concealed gun laws can only be changed by the state , not local towns .Many cops have been sued on civil rights charges because they don’t know the law on open carry.
Tennessee has reciprocity with Texas. In Texas you may carry a handgun in your vehicle without a permit. See links below:
http://www.handgunlaw.us/
http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/texas.pdf
The current Texas law is you can conceal a firearm in your car.
Concealed means can’t be seen.
I don’t understand the confusion.
In TX your car is considered part of your house. So you can have a concealed weapon ‘in your house’.
it took several legislative rewrites to get that dipsick Houston DA to quit charging people who were legally transporting their weapons.
I don't believe that is quite correct. It is intentional "failure to conceal" that is illegal. If you unintentionally fail to conceal, it is not a crime, however, it might mean you'll be having a long conversation with the local PD.
It’s past time to drag Texas kickin’ or screamin’ into the twenty first century. Contact your Texas legislators and tell them its past high time to make Texas a part of the rest of the national open carry way of life.
I would say, however, that if a policeman is walking toward me, I would not reach for my gun and try to "make an adjustment". It is what it is -- don't spook the cop.
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