Love and darkness and my sidearm

NA ^ | 9/1/2012 | NA

[Catfan15]

Celebrate today in Texas. Constitutional carry is law

[glimmerman70]

Hope they do it in Florida..

[Catfan15]

I think with TX over 50% of the country land-wise is constitutional carry

[Celtic Conservative]

It’s been put on the agenda here in Michigan. But too many squishy repubs to pass it so far.

CC

[Catfan15]

I was a bit of a miracle to pass this in TX now. I’m listening on local PD, and so far no gun mania heh.

[unread]

I read somewhere that Ohio is getting close...

[No.6]

>It’s been put on the agenda here in Michigan. But too many squishy repubs to pass it so far.

Last year too; on the list, no movement — no hope anyway unless it’s veto-proof.

[Afterguard]

I would love to see that, but, it’s going to take the electoral defeat of every state Democrat and several of the FL State Senate Republicans from Broward and Miami counties to achieve that. I am not encouraged.

[Who is John Galt?]

“It's definitely kind of going to make it tougher for us,” said Terrance Hopkins, President of the Black Police Association of Greater Dallas.

"Definitely kind of" - there's a guy with a future in big city politics...

[Georgia Girl 2]

Same deal here in GA. RINOS holding it up.

[wita]

Is it really Constitutional carry?

...or is it legislation, more easily removed than the YEARS it took to get it passed?

Nevertheless, should any move be made to undermine what is now should be met with overwhelming force to preserve it. Knowing the only law in your favor is still the second amendment contained in the Bill of Rights.

Very few States claiming Constitutional carry can match up with the State of Vermont. The original Constitutional carry State used as the example.

[Paleo Pete]

Yep, today it starts. I’ll be strapping one on and heading into town in about an hour, not expecting it to be much of a big deal really.

I was talking to a friend a few days ago, he said he expected to see a few people call police soon as they saw a guy walking around with a gun on, but that would die dpwn soon as the public in general got used to it. I don’t expect even that, we’ve had open carry for permit holders for a couple of years now, we’ll just see a few more people carrying.

This thread from yesterday had some good comments

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3990640/posts

And I posted a couple of good links to the law itself, and a FAQ about it that may be of interest to Texans. I plan to look over their online firearm safety course, but don’t have a lot of time this morning, I want to make it to Academy before all the .380 runs out, or 22 mag if they get any of either...finally started to see some .380 the past couple of weeks, but it doesn’t last long.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Well....more complicated than having an LTC. More convoluted, with some sketchy areas that will need to be addressed by a future legislative session I'm sure. There's a part that reads as an encroachment on the 4th amendment that's probably gonna cause issues, for one.

 

 

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Mixed feelings about it, mainly on the open carry side. When open carry was authorized a few years back turning CHL into LTC nitwits came out of the woodwork showboating around in obvious manners that made me cringe. Just not a good look for firearm folk. And the holsters, just terrible stuff, rarely saw a good one especially a retention holster on anyone. After a while the new evidently wore off and it's been some time since I've seen consistent open carry in public, at least in my area. May vary where you live. Open carry mania is liable to start up all over again but problematic this time around since a lot of characters will think they can just throw one on and go wherever, which will get them into legal issues - worse in some jurisdictions than others - and start gumming up the works for the LTC people who on the whole have been more diligent about trying to do everything right. Again not a good look, and open for harassment.

 

The thing I liked about going from strict concealed to LTC is in the event of an "oopsie" - accidental exposure - there's now a legal buffer when before it was a straight violation of law. Lefty maggots used to go "CHL hunting" when they were out and about in public, looking for printing under clothing, slip ups and what have you so they could call in and report them. It was no joke, I saw their discussions on internet forums about the best ways on how detect a concealed carry and what to say when calling in. Am just gonna keep my eyes and ears open and see how this develops.

 

 

[Paleo Pete]

My observations, day one...

I saw exactly one gun today, the one in my holster. I was surprised, I usually see someone carrying about 75% of the time, since we’ve had open carry with permit for a couple of years. So I’ll go through some store or other and see someone with a pistol in his belt fairly often, especially in Academy looking for ammo. (no 380 or 22 mag today). Expected to see at least one or two, nope...

Only two people seemed to realize I was carrying, and only because they asked, both know me and knew I was planning to.

So it was a completely uneventful day, nothing seemed to change from the usual, it’s not uncommon at all for me to not see anyone carrying any particular day.

No new “Do not carry” signs have gone up that I know of in local stores, nobody seemed to be paying much attention.

So I have to say at least for today, it seemed to be business as usual. I did find out my Bersa digs into my side in the car seat so I put it in the console while driving. Probably the same for the Taurus G2C, holster is not much different.

Otherwise, a completely uneventful day, which is fine with me.

I was half expecting something similar to your comments, yahoos all over the place just throwing one on their belt with no idea that there are places you cannot legally carry, unsafe conditions etc, but so far none of that.

I do expect to see a few instances where people find out the hard way it’s a good idea to pay attention to those signs saying your firearm is NOT welcome here...that’s why I looked for new ones, didn’t see any at all. I only know of a couple of places locally with existing signs warning that firearms are not allowed, one is the local senior citizen center where I play dominoes 2 days a week, I’ll take it off before going in tomorrow. Courthouse, of course. One apartment complex has a sign at the gate saying open carry is not allowed on the premises. Nothing about concealed carry with a permit, just prohibits open carry on apartment complex grounds. Apparently they also have a locking gate that will be closed at night, I have only been there during daylight hours. I have no reason to go in, I just turn around just outside the gate when I make a wrong turn and end up in their driveway. And if I did, it would be easy enough to just take it off and leave it in the console, covered as usual for the past 3 or 4 years...

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Thanks for the excellent report. It's gonna be a wait-and-see kind of deal. Don't think the momentum has gotten rolling just yet, when it does that's when we're gonna see and hear tangible feedback. I think for the most part people are gonna opt for concealed to avoid attracting attention, particularly in the flaky political environment these days.

 

 

[Paleo Pete]

Yep, I agree. I’m going with concealed but for different reasons.

If I do have to deal with some maniac in a grocery store trying to shoot as many people as he can, I don’t want to have a visible pistol on my side and be his very first target. Ditto for some crack head trying to rob a convenience store. I don’t want them to know I’m carrying, or at least dont want it to be obvious.

I dont expect too much trouble, Texas has already had open carry for a couple of years, so those who wanted to squeal about it already got it out of their system long ago, a few might still try but I doubt we’ll have too much trouble.

So far, it’s like nothing changed...

[lapsus calami]

 

 

The thing that really had me spooked about the open carry guys was a dangerous lack of situational awareness. I zeroed in on that right fast. It was so bad that I even did some experiments to test the envelope of it. I was able to get right up on top of people from behind, practically right up against them. Even touching their guns - and they never even knew it! The crap holsters those guys were wearing would have made it so easy, too easy, for me to snatch the pistol right out and make it mine before they knew what happened. They never even keyed in on me circling them like a buzzard before making my moves. Oblivious and unacceptable. It was as if they thought open carry created some sort of unpenetrable magic force field around them and there was nothing to worry about, just walk around with it on full display and everyone would obligingly keep their distance. Not workable against someone determined who has the drop on them due to lack of awareness. If people are gonna open carry they need to rid themselves of normalcy bias and get with the program in understanding that society has changed, is changing, and not for the better and make necessary adjustments so they don't become a statistic.

 

 

[Paleo Pete]

Very good points. I’m probably guilty too, but I try to keep my eyes open.