Move To Make Texas An Open Carry State?

Thanks to a link at The Gun Wire I see there is a move afoot to reverse more than a century of bad policy and make Texas into an open carry state.

Briefly quoting the Dallas Morning News report linked above:

The Legislature passed a law in 1995 allowing Texans to carry handguns concealed under coats, in purses, or in glove compartments. But it’s still against the law to carry pistols where people can see them.

Rep. George Lavender, a Texarkana Republican, wants to change that. When the Legislature convenes in January, he says, he will push for an “open carry” law. His plan is to give the more than 500,000 Texans who hold concealed-weapon licenses the option of carrying holstered pistols out in the open.

Lavender said he finds it ironic that freedom-loving Texas is one of just six states not to allow some form of open carry. The others are Illinois, New York, Arkansas, South Carolina and Florida. An open-carry law went into effect in Oklahoma on Nov. 1.

Since Alta Tejas, Oklahoma, has gone Open Carry the Texas Legislature needs only look across the Red River to see the the streets of Tulsa and Oklahoma City have not been rivers of gore. In fact, except for a certain amount of nervousness and a couple of cases of stupidity in action, things have been relatively peaceful in Indian Territory.

Especially on the Concealed Carry Front, where 24,018 Concealed Carry Licenses were issued, bringing the total number of valid permits to 122,000; while only 40 Licenses were revoked and 145 suspended.

I am sure the “usual suspects,” funded by a few hundred thousands of Bloomberg and the Foundation’s bucks, will vociferously protest. But Texas’ 1995 CCW Permit system has cut violent crime rates by by 48.5 percent, homicide rates by 51.2 percent, and robbery rates by 39.5 percent.

Open Carry is the next logical step in getting violent crime rates back to civilized society numbers. Below 80 per 100,000 population for violent crimes, below 1 per 100,000 for murder rates, and below 30 per 100,000 for robbery rates. Texans should be out in force to support Rep. Lavender’s bill to grant law abiding Texans the right to open carry.

Stranger

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