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Texas to allow unlicensed carrying of handguns
- flowerlad 5y agoJust yesterday night I saw this story about a "road rage" incident: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/22/california-road-rage-shooting-6-year-olds-family-seeks-shooter/5219877001/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/05/22/califo...
- pjhgvss 5y agoThe fact that carrying is so prevalent in Texas is one reason I'm always polite on the road and don't flip people off. You never know when someone is just going to lose it, but to be honest, a car is a deadly weapon as it is. It's just a good idea to avoid confrontations with strangers. I've noticed that the homeless population in Texas is much less aggressive than in Chicago and San Francisco and New York. My pet theory is that when any citizen might be armed, it promotes a type of herd immunity against assault. I don't carry, personally, but as far as the aggressive homeless man is concerned, or the road rager is, I might be armed. I like that, and I like this law.
- simion314 5y ago>I like that, and I like this law. Are you able to imagine the reverse? where instead of some insane person losing it and addressing some ugly words at you he will just kill you, your family will probably won't like the it anymore.
- noidesto 5y agoInsane people may kill you, and your family whether this law exists or not.
- simion314 5y agoIt is not the same if an insane person enters my home or a school with a pocket knife. And I am thinking at "temporary" insane people, like the ones that after the girlfriend dumps them they go at her work place/home and kill everyone they find including children. Same dude without a gun will do 1-x less damage. But if the citizens decided this is what they want I am not arguing against that. Just feels weird to hear someone say : "beggars will be nicer since they know I might have a gun" but not also consider the reverse "me, my family will have to be more cautios since anyone could have a gun".
- igetspam 5y agoSane people make irrational decisions in the heat of the moment. Shooting you could be that decision. But hey, it could be crazy person too so no big.
- ARandomerDude 5y agoThat would be very bad indeed, but it's also a situation that is statistically more likely to happen in California than Texas, just to add some perspective. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_violent_crime_rate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_terr...
- defaultname 5y agoViolent crime (which is a very broad spectrum of crimes, most not life threatening. Spitting on someone. A bar fight. And more severe violence) is slightly higher in California. Gun crimes are way higher in Texas. Over 50% higher than California. Aren't all those guns supposed to cow the criminals?
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoAre "gun crimes" a thing? Isn't that covered by violent crime? It expected that violent crime uses a weapon of convenience and since CA restricts firearms, then firearms figure less often in violent crime. What's clear from the statistics is, restricting firearms did not make a statistical difference for violent crime in CA.
- defaultname 5y agoWell yes, gun crimes are a thing. They are tracked separately. They have separate penalties. And there are loads more of them in Texas than California. Is it because "CA restricts firearms", then you're countering the guy above who claimed that Texas is a more peaceful society because of all of those guns. For that matter, Texas has more murders per capita than California. For all you hear about the wild streets of San Francisco, the crazy gangs of LA, etc... more murders in Texas. For that matter, NYC violence "exploded" over the past year. New York state still has less murders per capita than Texas despite a catastrophically bad year. Ouch. Guess those guns aren't keeping everyone safe. In reality they end up getting used to murder people.
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- jlturner 5y agoIn practice this is something we simply do not have enough data points on (places where the population is armed). It’s easy to speculate one way or another, but you are only legally protected in self defense, not homicide. I’m not convinced that people being armed would increase homicide rate, could just as easily decrease it (ie Cold War effect). As the original comment poster mentioned cars are lethal weapons as well, and you don’t see many intentional hit and runs. Guns are very loud and you’re not likely to go unnoticed committing gun violence. Personally I don’t know that it is a good thing to have everybody armed, but it really is on nobody but yourself to protect yourself and your dependents. To this end, I carry (and recommend others carry) pepper spray, which is very effective in non-lethally disabling an agitator in self defense without the mental or legal burdens and pains of injuring or killing another human being. (Disclosure: I used to work in EMS, violence is everywhere in different forms. Additionally I own a shotgun for the sole purpose of hunting food, and I think the idea of “keeping it handy for self defense” is the dumbest home protection idea I’ve ever heard; you’re more likely inflict accidental self harm keeping a weapon handy in the house or carrying it than safely locked up)
- simion314 5y ago>you are only legally protected in self defense, From what I seen in US you can kill anyone if you then can argue that "I was afraid for my life" and you are white and have some money. I am not sure how exceptional this cases are though. But if this laws are what the citizens want then I am not against it, just the argument I responded felt wrong.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dragonwriter 5y ago> As the original comment poster mentioned cars are lethal weapons as well, and you don’t see many intentional hit and runs. All hit and runs are intentional, but the only intent required is foe the “and run” part. Because intent for the “hit” isn’t part of the crime, and its already a serious felony where injuries occur, its rarely worth the effort to try to ascertain or prove intent for the “hit” case. OTOH, its worth noting that thr same political faction behind loosening gun carry restrictions has also been actively working to loosen restrictions on intentionally hitting people with cars, in direct response to people committing criminal homicide that way. (Weirdly, its also the faction that likes to pretend to be “pro-life”.)
- aweiland 5y agoIt shouldn't take guns to make people polite. Man the US culture is so toxic and stupid.
- dang 5y agoNationalistic flamewar is not ok here. Please don't post like this again, regardless of nation. It leads to threads which are extremely repetitive and inevitably nasty, and we're hoping for something more interesting here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- grzm 5y agoPoliteness and civility should not be enforced by fear.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- otachack 5y agoThere's something to be said when one claims they like homeless people acting a certain way.
- altacc 5y agoI think some people summarise that as "an armed society is a polite society" but it seems more like "a fearful society is a repressed society". In some countries the populace is oppressed by the fear of an authoritarian government, in others they're oppressed by the fear of the person stood next to them. An authoritarian government could be considered preferable as at least they are more predictable than random strangers.
- defaultname 5y agoThe "we'll be civil through guns" argument is profoundly destroyed by every possible empirical metric, yet somehow it always makes an appearance in every gun advocacy post. People are much more civil, social and considerate in virtually every other Western nation than in the gun crazed United States. The people who want to carry a gun are overwhelmingly the problem, and now you've armed them. Is there ever going to be a point where people stop believing the nonsense? There is a bit of a paradox that the people who eschewed masks, think COVID is a hoax or overblown/no risk, etc, are the ones sure they need to carry a gun at all times lest some sort of movie scenario erupt in front of them. It is fundamentally broken logic.
- igetspam 5y agoYou're polite on the road so people won't murder you. Read that back a few times. You feel your life is at stake if you get upset while driving. That's good?
- terrellm 5y agoThis road rage incident occurred in California, which has some of the strictest gun regulations in the country.
- splitrocket 5y agoAnd some of the lowest Per Capita gun deaths. Stop using anecdotes as data.
- dariusj18 5y agoBut is so with gun murders? According to this chart (2015 data) is it not one of the lowest https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_Sta... however it did seemingly fall in rank if not numbers from 2010 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_death_rates_in_the_United_States_by_state#Murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_death_rates_in_the_Uni...
- laverya 5y ago2/3rds of gun deaths are suicides, and so any differential in the firearm suicide rate will tend to swamp differences in the firearm homicide rate. [1] puts CA as 3.4 gun homicides per 100,000 people per year, and TX at 3.2. Top of the list is DC at 16.5 (and then LA at 7.7), bottom of the list is VT at 0.3. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_death_rates_in_the_United_States_by_state#Murders https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_death_rates_in_the_Uni...
- raajg 5y agoThe most ridiculous thing I've heard about all week
- kova12 5y agoArizona had the similar provisions for years without any major drawback. It's only ridiculous when you are not used to it
- door101 5y agoCall me an out of touch west coast liberal, but I personally would prefer that I don't regularly encounter people carrying a weapon capable of killing me. This isn't a war zone.
- dolni 5y agoAre you in favor of banning knives?
- toomuchtodo 5y agoKnives of a certain design (switchblades) and lengths? Absolutely.
- dolni 5y agoYou don't need a switchblade to kill somebody. A steak knife or a filet knife will do just as well. Should we ban those, too?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- toomuchtodo 5y agoWe should (imho) enact reasonable regulation that balances rights with citizen safety in a country where people need to be told not to fill plastic bags with gasoline and there is a widespread belief that there are microchips in vaccines.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Covzire 5y agoAlong with about 15 other states at this point, and growing.
- ARandomerDude 5y agoFor those unaware, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_carry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_carry
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ceejayoz 5y agoAlso in Texas: "Texas bans the possession of or promoting the use of more than six dildos." https://www.chron.com/politics/texas/article/In-Texas-even-possession-of-a-sex-toy-is-11161211.php https://www.chron.com/politics/texas/article/In-Texas-even-p...
- nickthemagicman 5y agoThe law, written in 1973 at a time when the U.S. Supreme Court was dealing with obscenity laws and cases from around the country, takes a tough stance on people who have the device.
- igetspam 5y agoKnow what was just passed? Suing women who have abortions. Also dying anyone they talked to about it. Possibly suing the Uber driver who dropped them off. Definitely suing the medical staff. We did add an exception to make sure your rapist can't sue you but his friends and family can. Go Texas! Pride of the South!
- meowster 5y ago> Go Texas! Pride of the South! Inciting isn't helping. Why should someone take what you have to say seriously, when you insult people in the next sentence.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- igetspam 5y agoAs someone living in Texas, I don't care whether or not you take me seriously. I'm so fed up with the anti-human stance of this state and the spoon fed rhetoric of its defenders, that I'm fine being insulting about it. Texas used to be a wonderful place. Now, I urge people to stay away not because of not wanting more Californian immigrants (which is just stupid anyway) but because it's a dangerous place full of hateful people who aren't afraid to start a fight in a store because you don't want to stand near them for not wearing a mask. It's a pretty gross place to be.
- splitrocket 5y agoLooks like they need to Share the Safety: https://theyesmen.org/share-the-safety https://theyesmen.org/share-the-safety
- matsemann 5y agoSomewhat relevant (based on European views on American gun control I guess): In Norwegian, "Texas" is an expression for something crazy. https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/yall-norwegians-use-the-word-texas-as-slang-to-mean-crazy/ https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/yall-norwegians-...
- larsiusprime 5y agoI'm a Norwegian citizen and a Texan and I can tell you that at least in my own personal contact with this phrase I feel it was way more influenced by the popular "cowboys and indians" western imagery than it does with contemporary modern Texas politics itself.
- matsemann 5y agoThat's correct. But the etymology is kinda "people riding around on horses and shooting wildly in the air", and allowing easier access to guns kinda reminded me about that.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- larsiusprime 5y agoIndeed. And I have certainly on occasion myself heard Norwegians use the phrase in this sort of way. My main point is that although the linked article describes the phrase more or less accurately, I can't tell you how many times I've come across articles (typically written by Americans, not uncommonly writers based in Austin) that assume that the phrase's entire origin is contemporary political commentary on modern Texas (despite the phrase predating e.g. George W. Bush's administration -- the first time I saw a wave of these articles -- by decades). In truth the average Norwegian (unless they're in the oil business and have made frequent trips to Houston) doesn't know a whole lot about Texas, just as the average American doesn't know a whole lot about Norway. RE: Gun control laws themselves, Norway is an interesting place. The laws themselves are strict compared to the USA, and in particular Texas, but there's also a LOT of what we would call "Gun Nuts" (such as my cousin, who is a speed-shooter). I would say Norway -- at least among my more rural relatives -- has a pretty big "Gun Culture", but it manifests pretty differently from how it plays out in the USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_regulation_in_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_regulation_in_Norway
- coldcode 5y agoEven in the "Wild Wild West" most towns had laws regarding firearms. I can understand and support licenses that require training (though previously in Texas was minimal at best) and concealment, but open carry with almost zero restrictions or education is plain dumb. Most law enforcement organizations and pretty much anyone who operates any kind of business was against this, but the governor and legislature could care less. If you are a police officer in a dangerous situation now you just shoot even more often as you have no idea who is good or bad. If you are intent on robbing someone, now you know who to shoot first. Now if you are angry you just whip it out and blast away. The idea that if everyone has a gun no one will shoot you is ignoring human ability to not think. I also wonder how many will wind up being shot by their own firearm or shoot themselves by accident since many will have zero clue how to properly care for and handle it.
- lpall 5y agoMany states allow unlicensed pit bulls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_t... Being armed might help.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y agoWe have the same thing here in Missouri. We've had it for decades, and it seems to work fine for us. In the rural parts of the state, police response times can be 30+ minutes. While deer hunting one time, I had to call an ambulance and met halfway with them because it would have taken too long for them to reach us otherwise without a helicopter. In such an environment, ubiquitous firearms dissuade brigands and robbers from wreaking havoc. Part of why this is such a contentious issue is because the needs of different parts of the country vary so drastically. (Ignoring cultural differences for now) Rural America is vastly different from urban America, Texas is different from NY or CA. We need to have the capacity to acknowledge and accept these differences and stop trying to force the other side into a box that works for your area, because it might not.
- agrwl_mayank 5y agoAnd tech people want to move here because of lower taxes?
- fjdncncndb 5y agoPeople on this website won't approve, but that's also partly by design. One of the purposes of the legislation is to stem the tide of Californian migration. I mean this post sincerely.
- meowster 5y agoTexan here. I hope it convinces some bad apple transplants to leave. There is one person here who said they moved from the Bay area to Texas, but that person is condescending, demeaning, and racist, while claiming to speak as a Texan in their comments in this thread. I hope those people don't turn Texas into the state that they left, which they left for a reason.
- brink 5y agoI can see this is quickly going to become a "hate on Texas" thread, rather than considering why Texas is doing this, which I think has some very legitimate ground. Texas seems to generally recognize that when power is concentrated into a point, that power is almost certainly abused, and is incredibly dangerous. It harks back to the old phrase "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". It really is simple; Texas generally fears a tyrannical government more than they fear a random shooting. So they give freedom to guns to spread out power. While certainly not risk-free, I think it's a legitimate stance.
- jacob2484 5y agoWell put
- nickthemagicman 5y agoMost people prefer safety over freedom because they take freedom for granted.
- igetspam 5y agoHi. Texan here. You are wrong. The state gov markets that because they use FUD to keep special interests happy. This is a marketing move. There's no data that shows having more drunk drivers (we have the most, last I checked) carrying guns is going to make anything safer. In fact, the rate in gun violence in this state is on the rise. Abbott and Patrick don't give two shits sbout Texans. They like cash.
- seriousquestion 5y agoBoth can be true. Texas fears too much centralized power and Abbott likes cash. Texans put up with the latter because of the former.
- burkaman 5y agoIt's a legitimate stance, but Texas exists in a union with total freedom of movement, so other states with the equally legitimate stance of "gun violence is worse than a licensing authority" have a right to be concerned. It's like one table in a restaurant voting to give themselves the right to smoke and play loud music, or something. I'm not saying Texas is definitively wrong, we have a federal constitution and in some sense we have already decided on this as a nation, I just want to point out that it's more complicated than "Texas can do what it wants".
- abruzzi 5y agoThe headline is misleading, it is unlicensed _concealed carry_ that is being legalized, from what I can tell. I don't know Texas gun laws but I suspect its already to open carry without a licenses. Also the article mentioned that Texas already has unlicensed carry of rifles. Again, while this is true, it doesn't strike me as uncommon in the US. I line in New Mexico, and yes, we're less restrictive of costal states but we also have unlincesed open carry, and unlincensed rifle carry. Concealed carry in NM does require a permit, but its pretty easy to get. The article gave me the feeling on non-americans writing about america--they focus on what is unusual to them, without necessarily realizing that some of it is pretty common in the US, with our lax gun laws.
- burkaman 5y agoThis is unusual to a lot of Americans too. I didn't know it was legal anywhere in the country to carry any kind of gun without a license.
- protomyth 5y agoThat's a shame that the news hasn't given you that information during one of the many times "guns" have hit the news. I really think someone is going to have a field day taking in the local laws & statistics and matching it to news items to give people a much more informative news stream.
- TheAdamAndChe 5y agoHere are some fun anecdotes that may shock a lot of non Americans (and some urban Americans): My dad first took me shooting around 6 or 7 years old. I shot my first 12 gauge shotgun at around 10 or 11 years old, and I kept a deer rifle in my room from age 15(I didn't have ammo). At 17, I bought an AK47 semi-automatic rifle, and got my first handgun at 19. I regularly conceal carry a 9mm pistol and I don't have a license, though I do have training from a very young age and plan to get a conceal carry permit just because. I plan to raise my daughter similarly. I live in rural Missouri. Most kids and young adults don't get an AK47, but otherwise my story isn't unusual around here.
- calvinmorrison 5y agoLet's go! Wild west pimp style! Its truly amazing the number of states going constitutional carry, and I look forward to it being nation wide. Congrats
- mi100hael 5y agoNote that 20 other states already have permitless legal carry. Vermont is one of the longest-running states to allow it. Texas is actually not one of the more permissive states when it comes to firearm laws. Everyone just thinks it is because of the "don't mess with texas," "wild west" image they like to maintain.
- DudeInBasement 5y agoUninformed people
- sremani 5y agoSo concealed carry needs license but if you want to carry without license it should be open carry?
- roamerz 5y agoOregon has had open carry forever. I accidentally let my CCW expire a couple of years ago so now when I have a firearm with me for whatever purpose (usually working in the great outdoors) I now carry it openly so as to not leave it in my car. Hardly anyone gives me a second look. I will probably renew my permit at some point though as when you open carry you always have to be alert to someone attempting to steal your firearm.
- mgarfias 5y agoExcept for Portland, Beaverton, Eugene, etc. And state law is about that change to allow the locality to make it easier to toss you in jail.
- clortho 5y agoThis is a good thing.
- vpeters25 5y agoJust want to point out the law allows unlicensed carrying of a concealed firearm, keyword here is concealed. It is my understanding you already can walk around with a firearm anywhere in most US states that don't ban firearms as long as is not hidden from view, all this law changes is the requirement to get a license if you intend to walk around with a firearm concealed.
- nickthemagicman 5y agoThis is great news. The right to bear arms is literally the second amendment. I think a lot of people would prefer safety over freedom but that's not really what America is about.
- psyc 5y agoSince my main source of others' opinions is HN, I was under the impression that most people thought America was about writing as many laws as it takes to minmax every aspect of society and the economy.
- nickthemagicman 5y agoMany people are big fans of government engineering of society to suit their tastes. And to be fair that's kind of why govt exists. The problem comes in when someone's viewpoints are overridden by another group. How do people respond? Do we accept that government sometimes works in other people's favor but they're still our countrymen and have good intentions even if they disagree with ours? Or do we demonize the opposition? Nowadays people tend to demonize.
- foxyv 5y agoI thought this was a little weird when I heard about it. Nearly a million Texans had concealed carry permits anyways. It doesn't mean you can carry a gun everywhere, there are signs (30.06 and 30.07) banning concealed and open carry in places like stores. The permit just means that concealed carriers had to take a class so they know the law. Kind of a no brainer. But then I watched a video by a police officer talking about how on stops, officers would draw weapons on cars they pulled over registered to CCP owners and I kind of understood why they want to get rid of it. Can you imagine, every time you get pulled over you get guns pointed at you... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLWdrshPXFU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLWdrshPXFU
- vageli 5y ago> But then I watched a video by a police officer talking about how on stops, officers would draw weapons on cars they pulled over registered to CCP owners and I kind of understood why they want to get rid of it. This feels so backwards to me. The law abiding citizens that made the effort to comply with the law are subject to more scrutiny and harsher treatment than not.
- enobrev 5y ago> Can you imagine, every time you get pulled over you get guns pointed at you There is a sizable percentage of people in this country who already live this reality.
- foxyv 5y agoI assume you mean racial minorities? No reason to beat around the bush. It's definitely true that black men are pulled over way more than white guys. My brother would always get harassed by police when he was riding with my friend. They see a white kid and a black kid in a car and pull them over for stuff like "Suspicious right turn", "Driving under the speed limit" and "I couldn't see your seatbelt." I don't know about drawn weapons though. The only time anyone I know was pulled over at gunpoint (Felony stop) was my Dad because his White Toyota "Matched the description" of another vehicle. (And like 100,000 others) I don't know what it is like in the cities.
- amadvance 5y agoAs European, that shocked me more is the phrase of the Democrat senator: "If I sit down at a restaurant with a gentleman or a woman who has a holster on their side and a gun in it, I want to know that person is well-trained in the use of that gun" Europeans won't sit down at restaurant with people with guns. No matter how trained they are.
- mgarfias 5y agoCuz you’re a bunch of pansies
- implements 5y agoNo, it’s because we try and create a civil society without the expectation of the need to kill each other while going about our daily lives. You have a choice - invest in institutions and the character necessary to make them work, or in an angry and fearful type of libertarianism with excessive violent casualties and prison populations. I think I know which I prefer - particularly given how close the US came to re-electing a President with a distinctly dictatorial frame of mind. Guns didn’t stop that - they facilitated it.
- mgarfias 5y agoNo, you’re pansies that expect others to keep them safe.
- dang 5y agoCan you please not post unsubstantive and/or flamebait comments? We ban that sort of account. We're trying for curious conversation here, which is very different. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mgarfias 5y agoIts about as useful as: "Europeans won't sit down at restaurant with people with guns. No matter how trained they are." You know what would be actually useful? Learning about the topic. The parent here isn't doing that, just spewing thoughts that have been fed to him/her by the media.
- the_only_law 5y agoThis is considered on topic why again?
- meowster 5y agoIt's interesting, however it is rightly flagged. The comments and voting in this thread are ridiculous.
- salamanderman 5y agoMy family left Richardson Texas in the mid 80's. Among my few vivid memories of being there are seeing gun racks on cars, holsters on angry parents at the grocery store, cigarettes everywhere (that was nationwide), and my parents being visibly anxious of strangers. I didn't really comprehend the cold war at that age, so I conflated the weapons posturing of US and Russia with the weapons posturing of everyday people in the town. In many ways it still feels similar, if we all have deadly weapons ready to fire we'll have peace. Billboards and tv commercials for everything from used cars to boots glorified the outlaw vigilante. The reality in public places felt like one loud person could turn a place into a circular firing squad at any time.
- mooreed 5y agoAs a Texan, I am dumbstruck by the often austere nature of the state legislature. I think the concealed handgun license (CHL) is the backbone of Texas gun-culture. Where someone goes from “regular citizen” to very adept at handing firearms and additionally having an understanding of the laws and regulations for those firearms. CHL holders are a very real force in Texas. This feels like 2 steps backwards; it even feels like it caricatures the “John Wayne Texas” that so many imagine. Perhaps Texas feels like the “crazy drunken uncle Yosemite Sam” for some states. But hopefully anyone who has been to SXSW or the Super Bowl a few years back, or to Houston for business...hopefully you have seen that beyond the boots and funny accent most of Texas is not that different from other states. So even though it’s legal, living in urban Dallas, TX - I have never seen a long barrel weapon held by non-law-enforcement in public. This is a very good thing in my personal opinion. Plenty have brought up the Joe Rogan quote of “people in Texas are nice because you never know who is carrying [a gun]”. In my opinion this observation suffers from “correlation is not causation.” Texas culture transcends my fear of being shot - which I almost never dwell on. Texas people are fierce practitioners of rugged individualism. With that, comes a bit of “don’t tell me what to do”, and as the belt-buckle of the Bible-belt there is a real culture of Protestantism that permeates more than meets the eye. TLDR; Texas legislature tries to out Texas the rest of Texas.
- BearsAreCool 5y agoOne important thing to note which may be lost in the headline, this is for concealed carrying and not open carry. That said, as someone who in the past 5 years went through the process of getting licensed to carry in my state I think the mandatory "firearm safety" course was something interesting and honestly vital. While I want to avoid getting too far into the muddy waters of high profile "dumb civilian" incidents involving firearms, they all could have been avoided if people had paid more attention to this. If you are considering carrying in a state with constitutional carry, please research the following. Civil liability in a situation where firearms are used, for instance if you discharge your weapon and damage a car, you are probably on the hook for that. There is no situation ever where your weapon should not be concealed and you aren't shooting someone directly. You should only fire your weapon if you can argue before court that your firing of that weapon was necessary to prevent you or someone else being killed or gravely injured. Don't be an idiot, avoid creating dangerous situations, even if you survive and stay out of prison they'll ruin your life. You pay your own legal fees regardless of if you were in the right. No warning shots or fancy attempts to hit somebody in the legs rather than the center of mass, those could hit bystanders instead or result in a jam. Brandishing a weapon means someone else (including police) could assume you are an active shooter and shoot you. Ever showing your weapon or signalling you have a weapon means that should a bad situation arise, an active shooter would shoot you first likely before you could respond. Do not ever display you have a firearm in the form of bumper stickers on your car, your car will get robbed and now criminals have your guns. The same goes for your house. In summary, keep the gun in your pants. Only remove it while firing into someone else's chest if there is no other option to prevent someone from dying or getting killed. With all that said, while I theoretically agree with the idea of "constitutional carry", I'm not sure if I would have learned all of this if my state had this.