Open Carry of a Handgun inTexas

[392cobra]

The following is a very good read.It goes to the English and the U.S. liberal's anti-gun/anti-self defence mind set.
It also points out the slippery slope the English have gone down and where we might have been headed if the decision yesterday by the Supreme Ct. had gone the other way.

Gun Control's Twisted Outcome
Restricting firearms has helped make England more crime-ridden than the U.S.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28582.html

[will butterwort]

to the comment about having to pull out your gun. I intentionally moved to rural cleburne co. alabama to get away from it. wrong--it will come to you--it has to me. Since vietnam--never wanted to see a gun again.Rural ,ala. first thing i rem. is having to chase lovers off our farm--fired some up in the air.Next--out of staters-kids pulled off road to have sex at home construction site--took two guns with me--ran them off.Next--group of teenagers hold up in old house on farm for week or two--didn,t know about--accidentally saw-caught up with--pulled out guns again to check out situation--kids hold up --apprenhended them--callec sheriff--. What I have learned in these 37 years in rural alabama--your on your on--when sheriff gets there it will all be over. I can sight lots more--four times being robbed-burglarized--there is no help from police--don,t mention the tomes I have called game warden for help shooting across our pastures-houses--one shooter was about 100 yards in my cemetery firing by house in night-time. Well--you get the idea--police investigates when it is all over.Game warden hasn,t showed up yet. Governments have killed heck of a lot more folks than citizens have, out of control--gestapo comes to mind,then whole country goes criminal, ww11, 51 million, not to mention uncle Joe, up north. Thus the second amendment .Will-alabama

[Bobcat]

Had to "use " my handgun some years ago . I used to have to travel at all hours and go through the middle of nowhere to get where I was going . Nature called at 1:00am in the boonies , so I pulled off the road and went into the woods . Came out and there were 4 "individuals" around my car trying to get in . Asked what they wanted and as they approached me , I casually pulled my .45 and repeated the question . End of problem .
Second time was on the way back from a race , towing my race car . Carload of punks thought it would be great fun to pass me and slam on their brakes , pull ahead and repeat . Slowing down and trying to avoid any conflict only escalated things . When they came along side and tried to force me off the road , I pulled the gun and racked a round in the chamber and they took the next exit .
FYI ... a good friend of mine is with the Sheriff`s Dept here ( First entry team ) and he told me you would be crazy in today`s society to not have a CWP !
You have to wonder why the Government is so anxious to disarm all the citizens ???

[Buzz]

I don't live in the US but similar arguments are happening here as we speak.

My Dad taught me to shoot (plus load, clean, handle and respect) a revolver when I was very young. Like one poster above wrote, I am like most lil' boys and love cars, guns, boats, planes, tools, and machinery in general.

The laws down here will allow issue a concealed handgun license to the successful applicant only if he or she has verifiable medical and background references and can show a specific need. No constitutionally guaranteed RKBA here, unfortunately.

ALL handgun permits are concealed carry and you are admonished to keep your weapon on your person or in your direct control at all times - NEVER, for example, leave it locked in your car. If your firearm is lost or stolen you can, depending on the circumstances, be held liable for a hefty fine.

There are sporting (competition) permits as well, and people with large acreages or properties (a big home on a 20,000+ sq.ft. lot will often qualify) can also apply for an "estate license" that permits them to buy and keep a rifle or shotgun. All guns are registered in the name of the licensed owner and cannot be transferred without due process.

Due to the nature of my business(es) and a couple of brushes with some ill-intentioned folks in the past, I am an armed citizen. In addition to my Dad's tutoring and lots of hands on practice over the years, I of course had to undergo the mandatory training which is pretty in-depth; along with regular range drills. I used to be a bit of a hothead in the past (when I was a few weeks younger ) but carrying a licensed gun has forced me to become a more aware, diplomatic and socially responsible citizen.

I understand the 2A constitutional issue and discuss it often with US friends, but I have to say I like our system of checks and training and cannot feel good about every Tom, Dickhead, and Harry with a self esteem deficit issue going to the corner gunstore and buying a .500 S&W. I also shudder to think of people with no training or experience with even the basic rules toting a 15 round Glock with its so-called trigger (un)safety mechanism (I know - I own one). Rights come with responsibility and common sense and simply turning everyone loose with a gun, to me, is like letting everyone drive on the freeways without the learning and licensing process. A gun, like a car, is only a tool that does what the user makes it do. Both can wreak mayhem and destruction in incompetent or malicious hands.

No good person should be denied the ability to protect themselves or their own from aggression and harm but without some sensible system of training and regulation, mere posession of a gun in the hands of SOME people might be more of a liability to themselves and others than anything else.

Having said all that I am glad to hear that the 2A was upheld and squeamish paranoids will not impose an unreasonable fear of an inanimate device on the good members of the populace. I also hope these same good people will recognize the merit in tolerating a small measure of regulation and inconvenience as a tradeoff in favor of the greater good in the same spirit, for instance, that we accept the benefits of enduring tighter security measures at the airports when we travel.

[392cobra]

I believe a Man's biggest responsibilities are to provide for and protect his family,their possessions,and to defend others & himself from harm.

It isn't the Government or police's job to protect me,even if they could.

The problem with gun's are the criminal,not the law abiding citizen.

The holder of a CHL has been checked out from the local level thru the Federal level.Then youhave to pass tests on gun laws and be able to fire it with proficiently.

In 2006 there were 258,162 CHL holders in Texas.

Here are the 2006 Texas Criminal Convictions....

Total Convictions
in Texas 61,539

Convictions
of CHL Holders 140

CHL Holder
Percentage of Total
Convictions .2275%

"Total Convictions in Texas" includes all convictions reported to the state criminal history repository for the offense during the calendar year for individuals age 21 or over.

[Buzz]

I agree with everything you wrote. The more hardcore RKBA advocates among us however are against practically all forms of regulation and control as they see any interference at all as an infringement on their constitutionally guaranteed right to be armed.

[diegokid]

One of the students in the VA Tech shootings had a CCW. He being the honest person he was he didn't have his weapon on him during the attacks. His father told me he feels some responsibility now because he could have stopped some of the killing.

What people fail to realize is you will never get the bg's to surrender their weapons and you will never be able to stop them from getting them. The following is cut from a FOX news article. People complain about our dead in a war zone overseas but just look at some of our cities where they have the toughest anti-gun laws on the books.


Nine people were killed in 36 shootings during one weekend this spring. The next week, five people were found shot to death inside a South Side home.
Chicago Public Schools officials say 27 students have been killed by gunfire since September.
Pamela Bosley lost her 18-year-old son two years ago, when a bullet struck him as he helped a fellow student unload instruments outside a South Side Church.
"If you didn't have the guns, we'd still have our children," she said.
Annette Nance-Holt, whose 16-year-old son was killed on a city bus last spring when someone sprayed bullets inside it, was livid with the court's decision.
"I'm still trying to figure out who we are more in love with, our children or our guns," she said. "It's crazy. I'm safer being a deer knowing people are hunting you."
Daley was also troubled by the ruling.
He predicted more violence and higher taxes to pay for extra police if his city's gun restrictions are lost.

On the flip side the city is already trying to use this as an excuse to raise more taxes.

[Don]

USA Today:

Wayne LaPierre: Executive vice president of the National Rifle Association of America.

'We're not done, yet'

Court's ruling is just opening salvo in NRA's bid to extend gun rights.

The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm for any lawful purpose. Period.

The Founding Fathers meant it, 4 million NRA members defend it, and the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed it.

For three decades, lawful residents of the District of Columbia had no right to possess a handgun in their own homes. Today, they do. That's a good thing, because good people should be able to protect themselves, especially at home.

The court firmly, and rightly, upheld that basic right to self-defense and declared the gun ban unconstitutional. This historic decision cements the individual right to bear arms as a cornerstone of American constitutional law.

"We start therefore with a strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans," the court ruled.

This case was, simply, about the basic human right to a firearm for personal protection. The right to bear arms — an individual right — just like the basic human rights to free speech, to worship and to vote.

Basic, human freedom for all law-abiding Americans. That's worth fighting for — and we're not done, yet.

This monumental decision is just the opening salvo. The court declared the individual right to own a firearm, but not every American can exercise that right. While Washington, D.C., residents can now possess a handgun, lawful residents of San Francisco and Chicago cannot.

Would we stand idly by if Washington residents could vote, but not those of Chicago? Or if Georgians could freely practice their faiths, while Californians had no freedom to worship? There would be outrage — and there is, from 80 million gun owners and every American who values freedom.

The NRA is filing lawsuits against cities in which gun ownership is banned, to restore individual freedom for the lawful Americans who live there. Because freedom for some Americans, and not for all, isn't freedom — it's discrimination. And it's wrong.

The freedom to bear arms belongs, individually, to every law-abiding American. It always has, and the NRA will keep fighting to preserve that fundamental right.