TX: How Can I Bear Arms?

Gun Watch ^ | 4 May, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Donnie's former apartment complex

A week or two ago I wrote about how a former Marine fought off an attempted home invasion.  He managed to fire three shots, and it appeared that no one was hit.

As I visited a local gas station, I ran into Donnie again.  He is a large, powerful black man, he makes an impression.  We shook hands and I told him that the article had been published.  He had not seen it yet, because he is in the middle of a move.  He did not say; but I suspect it was a decision precipitated by the aborted home invasion.  He had lost my card in the packing shuffle.

He asked me: How can I bear arms?

I was openly carrying when I met him.  I was directly demonstrating the right to keep and bear arms when we met again.  I believe that prompted the question.

It was a simple, direct, question.  People who are immersed in the gun culture often fail to understand that people who are not so inclined do not know the intricacies and subtleties of what it takes to go about armed in today's society.

Donnie was trained as a Marine.  He knows how to use firearms.  But he is only a peripheral member of the gun culture.

I gave him another card and explained the requirements to obtain a carry permit in Texas.  I asked if he had access to the Internet. He said he did. I told him to do a search for concealed carry Texas. I said that he would need to take a class, pay about a hundred dollars, and then he could get the permit.  I asked if he had any felony or misdemeanor domestic violence convictions.  He said that he did not.

I hope that Donnie follows up on legally bearing arms in Texas.  There are some noteworthy exceptions, such as on your own property, in your car, and while hunting.  But to generally bear arms in Texas, you need a carry permit.

Bringing peaceful, responsible black people into the gun culture is a way of showing them that they are also protected by the Constitution.  Unfortunately, permit fees and classes disproportionately make it harder for people of limited means to obtain permits.  For a great many reasons, black people are disproportionately in the lower income brackets.   The Crime Prevention Research Center(pdf) has found that a $10 increase in permit fees decreases the number of permit holders by about one half of a percent of the adult population:

Each $10 increase in fees reduces the percent of adults with permits by about a half a percentage point.                           

There is a movement to bring Texas into the permitless or "Constitutional" carry club.  It has some backers in the legislature, and a fair number of activists supporting it.  It may take a while, but Texas is rolling back infringements on the Second Amendment that have been in place for a hundred and forty years.


©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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[marktwain]

As more peaceful and responsible black people legally bear arms, it will become a political impossibility to neuter the Second Amendment.

[Celtic Conservative]

What with the depth and breadth of black on black crime encouraging more law abiding blacks to lawfully carry concealed should be easy. If it’s the money issue perhaps there could be some outreach from the NRA, GOA, et. al. to help defray cost for those wanting to carry. I know that a pro-lawful carry police chief is having a positive effect in Detroit.

CC

[trebb]

There is a movement to bring Texas into the permitless or "Constitutional" carry club. It has some backers in the legislature, and a fair number of activists supporting it. It may take a while, but Texas is rolling back infringements on the Second Amendment that have been in place for a hundred and forty years.

When I mentioned that Texas still had work to do, a Texan took umbrage and told me that they were way up there. I thought maybe something had changed since I had last checked but it turns out that Mississippi is ahead of Texas in that we can carry openly w/o a permit...

When ever I'm planning a trip, i look up the laws for the States I plan on going through/stopping in and print out a paper for reference.

[Lurker]

Here in IL the costs of obtaining a CCL are onerous. The classes run from $250 to $300, depending, and the fee to the State is $150. Fingerprints are another $65.

This prices many poor people out of the market and it’s inherently discriminatory.

L

[captain_dave]

[txeagle]

Texas ahead???? I think not. After passage of open carry, the number of subordinate government offices illegally restricting both concealed AND open carry is staggering.

One level of government strips you of your 2A rights and sells them back to you while the next contrives more ways to limit them further.

Our Attorney General, while giving lip service to rectifying the situation, continues to dither.

[trebb]

Texas ahead???? I think not. After passage of open carry, the number of subordinate government offices illegally restricting both concealed AND open carry is staggering.

One level of government strips you of your 2A rights and sells them back to you while the next contrives more ways to limit them further.

Our Attorney General, while giving lip service to rectifying the situation, continues to dither.

Thanks for the corroboration.

I have been stationed in Texas and have a number of friends from (or still residing) Texas. I love the State and a lot of the People but there are some aspects that remain an enigma to me.

Perry didn't help when he boasted he would secure Texas' borders despite the feds and then never followed through. I still like Perry for a lot of his qualities but one big boner can have an erosive effect....

[AlaskaErik]

No fees and no permits needed in Alaska or Arizona for concealed or open carry. That probably holds true for some other states too.

[MileHi]

Akin to a poll tax.

[NorthMountain]

Hosted at 'wikimedia' ... It's reflects legislation passed this year.

[sdpatriot]

“All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.” (Marbury vs.Madison, 1803.)

“Every law consistent with the Constitution will have been made in pursuance of the powers granted by it. Every usurpation or law repugnant to it cannot have been made in pursuance of its powers. The latter will be nugatory and void.” (Thomas Jefferson, Elliot, p. 4:187-88.)

[Pollster1]

As a resident of the People’s Republic of Maryland, I find that graphic a positive that is forever out of reach. The only way to restore my individual, God-given Second Amendment rights is for SCOTUS to say that “shall not be infringed” means what it says. My state legislature and my state’s voters are adamantly opposed to freedom.

[JoeFromSidney]

How bout the right to arm bears?

[marktwain]

If Trump gets national reciprocity passed, as he has promised, it will put pressure on the anti-Second Amendment states to loosen up.

[NorthMountain]

"... shall not be infringed."

The several States are headed in the right direction without Fedzilla's interference.

[NorthMountain]

???