Where did the push for open carry come from?

[flywise]

Flywise, interesting read. Thanks

I found that article a year or so ago while researching an answer to another open carry thread. I have always wondered when we went from the old cowboy image with a holster to the CC law. I do not even own a hand gun and I do not have a CC but I do think I should be allowed to carry anywhere and time since I have never givin any reason for the gov.or society to not trust me.

[AntlerCollector]

Agreed

[Buff]

Until all the talk started about making it legal, I never knew it was illegal.
I grew up coon hunting. We all carried a .22 on our belt, we took it off if we went into a store ( most of the time) if we remembered.
Then here at the farm I carry a .45 LC revolver when Im in the pasture messing around.
If i needed gas in the ranger I drove to the store and bought some. It never entered my mind it could be against the law.

How could it be legal to hide a gun under my coat but not to have one out in the open.

just seemed silly to me and I guess to the local law enforcement around here as well.

I have stood out and visited with the local deputy several times, he never brought up the fact that I had a gun.
If he had I would have mentioned he had one on his belt the same as I did.
What makes him a better man than me?


It was just a silly law made for city people who are afraid of each other.
No one around here would consider me a threat nor do I consider my neighbors a danger to me.

[az2tx]

Until all the talk started about making it legal, I never knew it was illegal.
I grew up coon hunting. We all carried a .22 on our belt, we took it off if we went into a store ( most of the time) if we remembered.
Then here at the farm I carry a .45 LC revolver when Im in the pasture messing around.
If i needed gas in the ranger I drove to the store and bought some. It never entered my mind it could be against the law.

How could it be legal to hide a gun under my coat but not to have one out in the open.

just seemed silly to me and I guess to the local law enforcement around here as well.

I have stood out and visited with the local deputy several times, he never brought up the fact that I had a gun.
If he had I would have mentioned he had one on his belt the same as I did.
What makes him a better man than me?


It was just a silly law made for city people who are afraid of each other.
No one around here would consider me a threat nor do I consider my neighbors a danger to me.

I'm the same way. I moved to Texas 10 yrs ago when I was 50 yrs old and it surprised me that Texas wasn't open carry. Every state I had lived in was open carry with no permit required.
I was absolutely a non issue to be out in public, in a store or restaurant with a gun on my hip or anyone else's for that matter

[Mike D]

It's about restoration of freedoms more than anything.

And yes I wrote every one of my reps multiple times about it.

[niceg3s]

The better question is, when did we transition from anyone could carry any time they wanted to you could only carry if the Gov. said you could?
I have not done anything other than been a good citizen to the US and yet I have to ask permission,take a class,and notify the police if I want to carry. Seems *** backwards if you as me.

AUSTIN - For most Americans, Texas conjures images of gun-toting vaqueros, cowboys wielding six-shooters and epic battles over independence and secession. Gun manufacturers Colt, Mossberg and Magpul call the Lone Star State home, and a concealed carry license grants you a fast-pass into the state Capitol.
All the more surprising, then, that Texas was the first state to ban its citizens from carrying handguns, a restriction that remained on the books for 125 years. Now, 20 years after the Texas Legislature OK'd the carrying of concealed handguns with a license, some lawmakers want to make it legal to carry holstered weapons in plain sight.
With the Legislature set to convene next month, lawmakers and historians are taking a look back at the law and its troubling Reconstruction-era origins.
"One of the noticeable goals was to ensure that black people did not shoot back to the guys in the white hoods," said Clayton Cramer, an author and historian who has written extensively on the selective enforcement of early gun laws. "A great many of the southern states relied on the fact that they could enforce these laws fairly arbitrarily."
In the years before the Civil War, Texas placed no restrictions on the possession of firearms. In fact, the Texas Constitution of 1845 established the absolute right for every citizen "to keep and bear arms, in the lawful defense of himself and the State." The open carrying of "long guns" - rifles and shotguns - remains legal. Until the mid-1860s, a prohibition on dueling was Texas' only restriction on firearms.
While other Southern and Confederate states made it illegal for blacks to possess arms, in Texas, slaves often could be seen toting firearms alongside their owners, especially in rural areas.
"While many southern states outlawed slaves possessing firearms, Texas was a little more liberal on that. And I don't think it was because we were nobler," said former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a gun enthusiast, collector and history buff. "I think it was because we had a frontier and we had people who wanted to kill us on that frontier."
That all changed in 1871, however, when the Legislature first outlawed the carrying of pistols outside of the home: "If any person in this state shall carry on or about his person, saddle, or in his saddle-bags, any pistol … he shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars," or around $2,000 today.
The law, which did not apply to travelers or any "frontier county … liable to incursions by hostile Indians," was passed by a Republican Legislature eager to ensure the Reconstruction government could disarm remaining Confederate sympathizers and other citizens who disagreed with the newly acquired rights of freed slaves.
Why then, when southern Democrats regained power, didn't they abolish the handgun ban from the books? Why did they instead continue to increase the fee ¬- to $500 by 1918 - and even make it an imprisonable offense in 1889?
"This way they could arrest black people," said Stephen Halbrook, a lawyer and noted authority on the history of gun policy in Texas and across the nation. "Whoever was in power could selectively enforce those laws against those they didn't like. There has always been a lot of racism in the way these kinds of laws have been enforced."
HOUSTON
• Members use rare provision to force council meeting on pension

thanks for the history

[bowhuntertex]

That was a really interesting article Flywise.

Just like Buff, where I grew up it wasn't uncommon to see someone with a gun on their hip. small towns life is way different than big cities.

[calfroper_06]

As a CHL holder I didn't campaign for it, but it doesn't bother me one bit. It would seem to draw more attention to yourself and that's the last thing I would want in a situation were I needed my weapon to defend myself and others around, just my opinion.

What does bother me is the people who are attention whores and want to argue the fact of the laws. Example arguing with LEO to not show proper CHL licenses . Yes, your licensed to open carry, but the LEO doesn't know that until proper identification is seen.

[Mike D]

As a CHL holder I didn't campaign for it, but it doesn't bother me one bit. It would seem to draw more attention to yourself and that's the last thing I would want in a situation were I needed my weapon to defend myself and others around, just my opinion.

What does bother me is the people who are attention whores and want to argue the fact of the laws. Example arguing with LEO to not show proper CHL licenses . Yes, your licensed to open carry, but the LEO doesn't know that until proper identification is seen.

Not that I'll be "that guy" but why should I just randomly be stopped for participating in a legal activity?

We are licensed to drive vehicles but I don't see people being pulled over for a random license check.

[Hogmauler]

Well said Buff.

[calfroper_06]

Not that I'll be "that guy" but why should I just randomly be stopped for participating in a legal activity?

We are licensed to drive vehicles but I don't see people being pulled over for a random license check.

How does that officer know you are participating in a legal activity if he/she doesn't see your license. Referencing that to licenses to drive is completing on the other side of the park.

Not saying they should check everyone all the time or that its not your right, but I wouldn't bother me, and I would show them no questions asked. Its kind of a respect thing. Put yourself in that LEO spot, if you cant imagine that I would suggest you go to your local law enforcement and ask for a ride- along, It will put it into perspective a little more.

[flywise]

Not that I'll be "that guy" but why should I just randomly be stopped for participating in a legal activity?

We are licensed to drive vehicles but I don't see people being pulled over for a random license check.

Agreed, Police have no reason to stop a person who has an open carry weapon simply to check to see if their legal.

[Be10dwn]

Agreed, Police have no reason to stop a person who has an open carry weapon simply to check to see if their legal.

To all the cops out there, is reasonable suspicion or probable cause the level needed for stop and frisk, or in this instance, stop and ask? I can't remember...

[i Be Profin]

Guns....its who we are.

[Atfulldraw]

My Texas ain't your Texas....not everybody lives in a city filled to the brim with liberal, scaredy-cat, gun-hating maggots

I can't carry a .45, which is what I like to carry, concealed.

I like pretty guns.

Yes, i sent a flurry of letters and emails and signed petitions. Our local reps pushed the bill.

Now that I've said all that....I probably won't open carry but a few times this year.

But when I do (with all respect due) I don't have to worry about some cop losing his mind over seeing a gun on my hip, and putting me in jail, and possibly taking away my right to carry a gun.

I'm with Marty....it isn't that hard to qualify to be a police officer.
Don't they all open carry?