New Texas Law Makes It Easy For Criminals To Openly Carry Handguns

Nation’s Loosest Open Carry Handgun Law Takes Effect In Its Second-Largest State

With Americans already on edge over the very real threat of mass shootings, Texas just compounded those fears for many of its citizens by allowing nearly one million people in the Lone Star State to carry handguns in plain sight. 

On Jan. 1, Texas became the largest state to legalize the “open carry” of handguns. Houston, meanwhile, is now the nation’s largest city where open carry is legal, and along with Dallas and San Antonio, it joins only Philadelphia and Phoenix in the top 10. 

Some suggest the new law is much ado about nothing, pointing to the fact that 45 states already allow some form of open carry. Presumably these same folks believe the “status quo” — a horrific epidemic of gun violence in which the US averaged one mass shooting per day in 2015 — is something worth preserving. 

But for Texas, which was home to three of the eight deadliest gun violence incidents of the year, the law is hardly the status quo. Pushed through by GOP legislators at the behest of pro-gun lobbyists and constituents, the law is vaguely worded with apparently little concern for its unintended — and likely deadly — consequences. 

The law directly applies only to the 850,000 people in Texas who have concealed handgun licenses, as well as those with recognized permits from other states. However, it’s unclear whether police can legally approach those who are openly carrying handguns and request to see their documentation. Naturally, this could embolden criminals and people with little or no firearms training, giving them cover if they choose to pack heat in plain sight.  

“We’ve changed things here a lot and we’ve not thought this through,” Charley Wilkison, executive director of the state’s largest law enforcement officers’ union, told the Associated Press. “People will drive without a license and we can sure count on them to carry a weapon without training or license.”

Even if police do approach gun holders and ask to see their permits, experts say those who refuse to produce them have committed no crime and can’t be arrested. In practice, police say they’ll be reluctant to inquire about permits due to the fear of harassment lawsuits — a legitimate one given that gun “enthusiasts” who already believe the new law is too restrictive say they’re anxious to challenge it in court.  

“We’re going to assume they’re a license holder, probably,” Austin Police Department training commander Andy Michael told the AP. 

The law allows businesses and private universities to opt out, and many have announced plans to do so. However, people can now legally and openly carry handguns into the lobbies of police stations and other public buildings in Texas, leading to “panic” among employees at places like Dallas City Hall. 

“People have died across the country, and residents and city employees want to know: When should we be worried?,” city spokeswoman Sana Syed told The Dallas Morning News. “There is no barometer for knowing which person is in their right mind to have a weapon like that.”

Unlike open carry statutes in other states, the Texas law doesn’t allow cities to opt out, something Democrats in the Legislature pushed for. 

“As a result of this shortsightedness, Texas is now home to the largest cities in the United States that have open carry laws with no local restrictions,” state Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, said in a statement this week, calling the law the “most extreme” in the nation. “I don’t want strange men walking down my street brandishing guns while my daughters are riding bikes or playing outside. My neighbors and constituents don’t want that, either.”

As one of Anchia’s neighbors, I can certainly vouch for that statement, and the law will undoubtedly fuel a spike in emergency calls from alarmed citizens. 

Law enforcement officials say it could also result in those who openly carry handguns becoming targets for violence, or endangering lives by trying to play hero when crimes occur. If you’re a police officer arriving at the scene of a shooting, how do you differentiate between suspects and civilians? How do you even begin to control a crime scene when everyone has a weapon? 

While these chaotic scenarios are hypothetical, another grave consequence of the new Texas law is more certain.

“Any time you introduce more guns into any environment, empirical data has shown, you have more accidental shootings,” Police Chief Mike McClelland told The Houston Chronicle. “You have more suicides, more children shoot themselves.”

 

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Image by Paul Weaver via Flickr and a CC license