Despite popular mythology, us Texans don't ride horses much anymore, or wear 10 gallon hats, or walk around town with a 6-shooter on our hip.
That will all change on January 1, 2016, however. The part about the 6-shooter at least. Up until then it is illegal to "open carry" a handgun in Texas. But we will soon be joining most of the rest of the country in allowing our citizens to do just that.
On that date all CHL (Concealed Handgun License) holders will convert to LTC
(License To Carry) holders, and anyone properly trained, vetted and licensed will be able to carry
either concealed or openly. What I can't figure out is why? Why would anyone want to carry a handgun out in the open?
This lady looks to me like she could easily become a victim at any moment. Someone walks up behind her with a sock full of quarters and pops her up-side the head with it, and he has himself a nice looking 1911-style handgun, while she gets a very expensive ambulance ride. Or if a bad guy already doped up and fidgety walks into a convenience store to hold it up and sees her with that gun on her hip, he might just shoot preemptively and take her out.
I have no problem at all letting upstanding citizens who are willing to undergo the proper training and allow themselves to be photographed, fingerprinted, and vetted top to bottom, carry private firearms. In the world we live in today, with the lawlessness that exists, and with the constraints (budgetary and otherwise) placed on our police, having the means to protect yourself seems quite reasonable IMO.
But I would personally prefer to go "gray man" whenever I could, kind of like having a big honkin' 454 under the hood of a vintage Buick Le Sabre. I would feel safer not attracting attention whenever possible, knowing that if I really had to, if there was absolutely no other way out, I could defend myself.
Ever hear of the "little man" complex? Is that what this is all about? Am I missing something? What is the point of open carry? Somebody 'splain it to me.
S
