I love Texas....for many reasons

[army judge]

Jurisdiction

Texas

Effective today, it is legal to openly carry your sword, bowie knife, machete, or even your bayonet!

That's right, dear readers, blades longer than 5 1/2 inches can be openly carried, with a few exceptions.

Think I'll dust off my trusty M4 -aka- "ranger" knife...

En garde! Texas open carry sword law takes effect Friday

 

[adjusterjack]

Congratulations for finally catching up to Arizona. Now all you need in Texas what we here call "constitutional carry" where you can carry concealed firearms without the permission and regulation of the state.

 

[army judge]

Congratulations for finally catching up to Arizona. Now all you need in Texas what we here call "constitutional carry" where you can carry concealed firearms without the permission and regulation of the state.

We have open carry, which is far better in my view.

It brings to mind my ancestors as they traveled west to help our country grow.

My paternal grandfather would regale me with the stories his grandfather told him as a boy.

However, I rather delight in air conditioning, central heating, electricity, railroads, airplanes, the automobile, and all these great inventions we've come to embrace.

 

[Highwayman]

While I am fully in favor of armed citizens, I think anyone who open carries is very foolish. Why would you want to make yourself a target?

 

[army judge]

While I am fully in favor of armed citizens, I think anyone who open carries is very foolish. Why would you want to make yourself a target?

Hard to answer that, my friend.

I can carry concealed, or open.

I don't think a firearm makes you any more of a target than without one.

In my view it has to do with how you carry yourself (situational awareness), bearing, demeanor, and location.

To avoid becoming a victim in some areas of this country, you'd have be locked up inside an Abrams or Bradley. LOL

 

[adjusterjack]

While I am fully in favor of armed citizens, I think anyone who open carries is very foolish. Why would you want to make yourself a target?

Agree there. We have open carry in AZ, too. Like anywhere else we also have loonies who would think nothing of confronting a gun owner with "Oh, what do have a gun for" or crap like that. Plus unsophisticated people alarmed at the sight of an exposed firearm that call the police.

No thanks.

When the unfortunate day comes where I have to draw my firearm I want it to be a big surprise to the person who is trying to rob or kill me.

Till then, it stays concealed.

 

[Highwayman]

In my view it has to do with how you carry yourself (situational awareness)...

Exactly. When I'm working I have my head on a swivel, constantly. It's difficult to do that every moment of every day one is out and about in public, and that's what one >should< do when carrying in the open.

 

[Cannonball]

While I am fully in favor of armed citizens, I think anyone who open carries is very foolish. Why would you want to make yourself a target?

A lot of open carry citizens are doing it to make a point. And you can see from the tons of videos out there that they become subject to harassment by police for doing something that they have every right to do.

Courts have been clear that when doing something that you are within your rights to do, LE cannot consider it suspicious behavior. And yet, someone taking photos on a public sidewalk in front of a courthouse gets harassed because they look suspicious. Or LE have someone call in a report of a suspicious person and think it gives them the right to detain the open carry individual, demand his ID, take his weapon away for the duration, etc.

I applaud open carry people as long as they are courteous. Our rights are like muscles; if we don't exercise them, we lose them.

 

[adjusterjack]

A lot of the "I got rights" people got no common sense to go with it.

I don't carry a firearm to "make a point."

Anybody who does is an idiot.

Especially the ones that walk down the street carrying their AR-15s and video cameras for the purpose of baiting cops to make that point.

 

[Cannonball]

A lot of the "I got rights" people got no common sense to go with it.

I don't carry a firearm to "make a point."

Anybody who does is an idiot.

Especially the ones that walk down the street carrying their AR-15s and video cameras for the purpose of baiting cops to make that point.

No reason for name calling. And just because you disagree with them does not make them idiots. The state of Texas recently became an open carry state in large part because of their efforts. I wonder if you might be one of those people who, when people of a certain color chose to sit at the wrong lunch counter, might have called them idiots, too?

I don't even own a firearm. But I appreciate those who stand up for the right to do so. The fact that you and others say that the exercise of the right to bear arms makes you a "target" just illustrates what you don't understand about the 2nd and 4th Amendments. By the way, a lot of the "making a point" is to educate people. Because a lot of people don't understand where the lines are. its like the laws about a passenger in a traffic stop not being required to ID (speaking of states that are not stop and identify states). The cop is usually going to ask the passenger to ID. If the passenger always complied, then our kids and our grandkids would soon not even realize there is a choice. Same with firearm laws. These guys are heroes because they are protecting not just their rights, but YOURS.

 

[adjusterjack]

I wonder if you might be one of those people who, when people of a certain color chose to sit at the wrong lunch counter, might have called them idiots, too?

Seriously?

I wasn't calling YOU an idiot earlier but I'm certainly calling you an idiot now for that incredibly stupid remark.