4 States Are Weighing Allowing Open Carry

[Johnny Dollar]

Only 6 states,technically at least,forbid the practice.
Now 4 of them are to some extent on the table.All but Florida and New York.
I love the last paragraph by a Republican!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...-11-guns_N.htm

4 states, among last holdouts, eye open-carry gun laws

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Four Southern states — Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas — are considering legislation that would allow people to carry handguns openly in a holster.

These generally Second Amendment-friendly states are among the last six holdouts against open carrying of guns. Openly carrying handguns is legal in most states, even those that ban concealed firearms. New York and Florida also bar openly carrying handguns.

The four other states that ban so-called open carry "are extremely gun-friendly. They understand the individual-rights aspect. Yet for whatever reason, the carry laws in these states are restrictive," says John Pierce, a co-founder of OpenCarry.org, which promotes gun rights.

Most states have strict laws governing concealed weapons. Illinois and Wisconsin ban carrying them entirely, according to the National Rifle Association. Concealing a weapon "was seen in the early days of our nation as something of an unwholesome act. People would bear arms openly," Pierce says.

Says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which opposes open-carry laws: "We don't want more people carrying guns either openly or concealed because the more guns you have in a situation, the more likely you are to get gun violence."

Grass-roots movements supporting open carry have emerged via Internet and e-mail campaigns, Pierce says. The online Texas petition now has more than 55,000 signatures. OpenCarry.org raised $25,000 through online donations to pay for advertising in Texas, says OpenCarry.org co-founder Mike Stollenwerk.

Legislation is getting varying degrees of traction:

• In South Carolina, Republican Rep. Dan Cooper sponsored a bill endorsed by 36 other legislators to allow anyone who legally owns a handgun to carry it openly.

• In Oklahoma, Republican Rep. Mike Ritze is the sole sponsor of a bill filed Feb. 2 that would allow open carry.

• In Arkansas, a legislator is moving forward with a similar bill, Stollenwerk says.

• In Texas, Ian McCarthy, a student who chairs the Texas Open Carry Work Group, started the online petition in late 2007. He says a concealed gun is uncomfortable during hot Texas summers, takes longer to draw in self-defense and won't deter a criminal.

"If a criminal sees you're armed, he's not going to mess with you," McCarthy says.

Texas Republican Rep. Debbie Riddle has asked the state's legislative council to draft an open-carry bill. She wants to see how other gun-rights bills fare, particularly one to allow concealed weapons on college campuses."

Republican state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, who sponsored the college campus bill, opposes open carry. "I think that's harkening too far back to the Wild West," he says.

[saltydog452]

I'm in Texas and, please don't throw rocks at me, but Open Carry is kinda bothersome to me.

Mostly it has to do with gun grabs. Our LEOs are trained to prevent this and have 'snatch resistant' duty belts and holsters. Also they have other neat stuff...like uniform, badge, radio, and a whole bunch of trained of back-up.

I don't know that the average licensed carrier, myself
included, can, or willing to, undergo the training.

Maybe I'm wrong. Open to suggestions...

Thanks,

salty

[offshorebear]

You don't have to open carry if you don't want to. My state lets the individual make the choice to open carry. If you don't want to deal with what OC brings then you don't have to. We havn't had a problem with gun grabs and OC. Everyone who OC's should know what they are getting into though.

We can also carry in bars and have a drink if we think we are responsible enough too. The state doesn't decide for us.

[ProguninTN]

Offshorebear has it right. Legal open carry is about being able to choose how to carry. If you choose to conceal carry, good for you. Just remember, an advantage of lawful open carry is if your weapon becomes accidentally exposed, you don't have a problem unlike the current laws in 'must conceal' states.

[ocam]

For me open carry laws mean no worries about accidentally printing while carrying concealed. No finding yourself on the wrong side of the law by a chance reveal when pumping gas, bending over to pick something up, etc...

[JWeeks]

Personally, I think open carry should be legal, but is a bad idea. I vote no for people in bars, drinking. Sorry; just like a designated driver. There is a time to drink and a time to be responsible.

[saltydog452]

Yep, choices are a good thing.

I'm kinda/sorta in favor of open carry...maybe. Gotta think on it some more.

Just saying though that open carry can make your pistola as accessable to others as it is to you.

I dunno, do you?

Think about it.

salty

[JWeeks]

Open carry has two disadvantages. A bad guy can potentially grab your weapon, and the bad guy knows you are carrying so he can plan accordingly.

Concealed carry overcomes both disadvantages.

[bulgron]

I don't know how this article doesn't notice that California has effectively banned open carry for all but the most remote federal lands. And most of us can't get concealed carry permits either. Pretty much if you want to carry a firearm outside your house here in CA, you have to carry it unloaded and with no mags touching the gun. Oh, but if you do that, make damn sure you aren't within 1000' of a school.

CA got the highest score from the Brady campaign for our gun laws, and the article noted in the OP doesn't even mention us. Kind of makes me wonder if anyone thinks that California is still part of the United States.

[LawBot5000]

The problem here is accidental reveals when carrying concealed, not people who carry openly all the time without understanding the risks.

[eflatminor]

Unloaded Open Carry is a really good idea here in CA...because it's probably the only way we'll get our fascist sherrif's (Baca, Hutchens, etc) to allow conceal carry. We'll see how Nordyke works out for us but if it's in any way positive, then watch for massive UOC demonstrations as well as many, many individuals carrying openly. After the cops field enough calls for no damn reason, the sheriffs will either have to relent and issue CCW permits or the legislature will have to outlaw UOC...which should be difficult after Heller and hopefully Nordyke.

Sure, I'd rather carry concealed than open, but in most of CA, we don't have a choice.

[bulgron]

I'd rather see LOC, which we should be able to get post-Nordyke. And we need to eliminate that 1000' from school grounds thing.

My neighbor is a San Jose cop and he was telling me that the letter on UOC got routed through the department. I don't know if he was suggesting I try it, but he was letting me know that the legality of UOC is on the cops' radar.

The day is coming (and soon) when people are going to be carrying a gun one way or another in California. The drama surrounding this is most entertaining.

[JesseL]

Strange that despite the fact that a majority of states allow some form of open carry, it causes none of the problems people predict.

[Bennett Prescott]

Hooray! Hopefully South Carolina will allow unlicensed open carry and solve, to some extent, their permit SNAFUs for out of staters.

[SomeKid]

Our LEOs are trained to prevent this

That is right, they are the only ones trained on how to properly open carry. We should be glad we are allowed to hide our guns under our coats and thank them for that much.

I just got back from open-carrying my pistol, again. How I managed to evade being attacked and having my gun stolen from out of my holster is a wonder, again.

[nplant]

Just because I think it's funny, let me correct Helmke's statement:

"We don't want more people because the more people you have in a situation, the more likely you are to get violence."

It's not about the tools.

[230RN]

^^Very good, SomeKid. Subtle but pointed. +1

[Elza]

I live in Texas and I have mixed emotions about it.

I would like to see it simply to bolster our 2nd Amendment rights. I personally have no desire to OC but those that do should be allowed to do so.

OTOH, I fear the fallout when ‘Suzie Soccer Mom’ starts seeing guns out in the open. I live in the Sherman/Denison area and have yet to see a 30.06 sign. When ‘Suzie’ starts whining and crying to the local business places I fear that they will react in a predictable manner and start hanging signs. “Out of sight, out of mind” helps keep the signage down I suspect.

[csmkersh]

Elza, when and if 30.06 signs go up, then we do what we did in 1996-97 when no-gunz signs went up at places like Hollywood Video and Denny's. We started a business boycott. Signs came down once they saw the hit their bottom line was getting.

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I vote no for people in bars, drinking.

Just a little clarity: It would be constitutional to ban someone from drinking while armed, but unconstitutional to ban someone from being armed while drinking.

Woody

[Buck Nekkid]

Why should the state of Texas be able to tell me that I cannot wear my pistol however I want to? Folks in AZ have had this "privilege" for ever...as have so many other states...no problem there and there won't be a problem here.

[JCMAG]

Cowboy,

Just a little clarity: It would be constitutional to ban someone from drinking while armed, but unconstitutional to ban someone from being armed while drinking.

I don't know if that was intended to be humourous, but that made me smile.

I see no conflict between drinking and carrying a weapon. Irresponsible handling of either can be deadly in of themselves. The key is to be responsible. If you do not feel comfortable with your ability to handle alcohol or weapons responsibly, than handle neither, and certainly do not mix them.

You needn't open carry if it is legal to do so. In densely-populated or peopled areas, I think that I wouldn't want to openly carry. In rural areas, it's good to be comfortable in nature.

I liken openly carrying your weapon to walking about without a shirt on: It's not something you might want to do at the mall, or on main street, but there is no better medicine for mowing the lawn or fishing.

A word from a PA resident: Getting it legal is the hard part; getting people not to soil their pants when/if they notice is the hard part. We should all be a little appreciative for them folks down south fighting for awareness.

Let's hope these laws go through.

[Standing Wolf]

I live in Colorado, where open carry is legal everywhere but Denver, which wants to be the San Francisco of the Rocky Mountains.

I carry openly about a third of the time. I get asked about it, (never with hostility,) about once a year. The vast majority of people never so much as notice.

What could or may or might happen is irrelevant. What's relevant is I have a right to carry openly, and exercise it because rights, like muscles and IQ points, benefit from regular, frequent exercise.

[Elza]

Buck Nekkid: Why should the state of Texas be able to tell me that I cannot wear my pistol however I want to?

Another little tidbit about the no open carry law in Texas: it has its basis in racism. It came about following the Civil War to disarm blacks. Other racist laws have been struck from the books. Funny how this is never mentioned in the Legislature.

[MechAg94]

I heard from a TSRA rep last night at a meeting. He said it looked like most of the other gun bills had a good chance to pass, but he said he is hearing that open carry looks like it won't pass.

IMO, I probably wouldn't open carry myself, but I like the idea of this debate pushing forward. It helps push the current boundaries of our second amendment rights and it is one more thing they can't prosecute us on. If nothing else, it scares the opposition to the point they will give up other stuff.