“As long as people feel like they can victimize you and shoot and kill you and you’re just going to sit and pray, they’ll keep doing it.” – W. Marvin Dulaney, Department of History Chair at the University of Texas at Arlington, quoted in First to ban open carry, Texas could be one of last to OK it [via houstonchronicle.com]
True words and a great quote from someone who studies history. Might have been a great story too but, I am not a subscriber to the Huston Chronicle.
If you search Google for the article title, then click the News tab, the link there will usually take you to the full article. Worked for this one on my end.
I doubt Texas will be one of the last to allow open carry. It’ll happen there long before it comes to Illinois, or the gun-free utopias of the east and west coast.
The linked article is subscriber only, but you can see a photo of a dude with poor trigger finger discipline. Images like that don’t do us any good, especially in a debate over the merits of armed citizens.
Pretty gun, though. Bet it’s a Cimmaron.
If those other states never do, then Texas will be one of the last.
What gun free utopias of the West Coast?
There are three states on the West Coast (four if you count Alaska). Washington has had fully legal open carry without a piece of paper from the government, since before it became a state.
Oregon has as well. But Oregon does lack state preemption, so to open carry in the big cities (big for Oregon), you need a carry permit.
California had full open carry, but began placing restrictions on it, such as not in a populated area or an unloaded gun only. I’m not sure where they are now.
And as far as I can tell, Alaska has never placed restrictions on carrying a gun in public, openly or concealed. They introduced their concealed carry license so Alaskans could carry in other states.
All four states, even California!, are better than Texas for open carry right now. When Texas passes it’s expected with a CHL open carry law, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska will still be less restrictive than Texas for open carry.
And if by some miracle, Texas passes a no permit required open carry law, it will only catch up to, but not surpass, Washington and Alaska.
In California you could possibly get away with open carry in the high desert, but not in any incorporated areas.
The simple fact that a state has a law on the books that purports to allow open carry does NOT mean that such exercise of one’s natural, civil and Constitutionally protected RKBA is an actual fact.
Having only recently escaped from Washington I can tell you that open carry in any municipality, and Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia especially, is entirely legal according to state law. However…you will spend a great deal of time making the acquaintance of local police officials and explaining to them why you are carrying a pistol or other firearm. They may or may not find a reason to detain or arrest you, situations and officers vary. In Seattle, at least, it is Seattle PD published policy that if they are called to investigate a “man with a gun” they will stop and question you. They will also demand that you turn over your firearm to the officer during the questioning, “for officer safety”. There is no limit to the amount of time they may question you, the exact process for returning the weapon to you at the end of the encounter (not sure how the new no transfer law would apply here), and nothing that says they cannot intentionally antagonize you into making rash statements or actions which allow them to place you under arrest and hold you weapon indefinitely. I believe this is the very definition of passive-aggressive banning of open carry. All they have to do is make it a big enough pain in the ass and people will just decide it isn’t worth the trouble.
The same thing you described is the same case for Maryland. You can technically open carry a long gun there which was ironically one of the justifications used by the governor and attorney general to defend the “may issue” (no issue) permit process.
Of course try doing that in a liberal-dominated area like Baltimore, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and Annapolis where you would need to with all the crime. You would have their knee on your neck in a matter of seconds. Not only that other “gun owners” would ostracize you for “rocking the boat” and setting back “gun rights” which means by default then Maryland has no carry at all unless you are out in the sticks on your own property.
Just like Oregon however there are some municipalities that got away with regulating carry before the state enforced preemption meaning no carry at all.
There’s a difference between paper law and real law. Even in Texas, where “open carry” of long guns is ostensibly legal, you can still be cited with disorderly conduct, even if you’re just sitting there enjoying a coffee with your rifle peacefully leaning against the table.
Evaluating a state’s freedom exclusively on the basis of its written laws, without any acknowledgement of the realities of their enforcement, is naive. Hell, the entire U.S. is covered by a law that provides that the RKBA shall not be infringed. Yet, that law is disregarded throughout the country as the government infringes the Hell out of it everywhere every day.
Thank Heaven! A History Professor who understands you CAN learn important lessons from the study of history!
Wise words.
The HC article is a good one – I recommend everyone read it. (As Jake R mentioned, go to Google News – I searched for “Texas open carry” – and click on the link there.)
interesting–didn’t work for me… Hard to believe such a clear-eyed view is coming from a history prof at UTA–and that the Chron is carrying it.
You might have to go into incognito mode (or whatever “privacy” mode exists for your browser) in order to get to the article. Perhaps it’s saving a cooking that’s not letting you get the freebie.
Yep I agree with Curtis Illinois may never have open carry. So I don’t lose any sleep over Texas.
I’m not surprised. If more people would take the time to learn some history they would see the light as well.