I know there are a couple TTAG readers in the South Texas area, and I figured that I should give them a heads-up on this as well. The Texas House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety will be holding hearings on proposals to permit concealed carry on campus, and give current CHL holders the option to openly carry their firearms (currently, Texas only allows concealed carry — no open carry in any form). The NRA has more on the proposals here, and the Texas State Rifle Association’s bulletin is here. The long and the short of it is that if you’re able to make it to Room E2.010 of the Capitol Extension in Austin tomorrow you should make an effort to voice your opinion on these measures. It looks like they’ll be taking testimony in the early afternoon, and I’ll be there myself. Right after stopping in at Rudy’s for lunch, that is.

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35 COMMENTS

  1. I’m wondering if the neocons in Texas will ever allow open carry, even licensed. Texas is all bark no bite when it comes to gun rights. Of course, it’s paradise if you’re from California or New Jersey.

    • New Jersey and California weren’t conquered and handed a slate of repressive laws to live under. (They did it themselves….) Ever heard of Reconstruction?

    • Neocons? I didn’t know the Jooos controled the Texas Legislature. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and suggest you really meant “RINOs.”

    • +1 Yes, Texas Republicans are for freedom…. Except when they aren’t… Which seems to be a lot of the time.

    • I am not sure why you blame conservatives for the state of gun laws in Texas but I do agree with you about Texas and guns. People from there are always claiming that they have liberal gun laws and yet they don’t even allow open carry! That is hardly liberal to me. It wasn’t but a few years ago that they began to allow concealed carry! Most of the western states, and yes I realize Texas is not one of the 11 western states, have allowed both open and concealed carry for, well for forever.

      Examples of states with liberal gun laws are Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona. I spend half of my time in Alaska and one can carry there, concealed or open without a permit. If you can legally buy a gun you can carry it. That is how it should be.

      BTW, I don’t open carry and think people that do are little off but I still want the right to do so whether I exercise that right or not.

      • I would add Virginia to that list. Shall issue, Constitutional open carry. Where we fall down is no castle doctrine let alone stand your ground. Texas is good in those areas.

        • Washington beats all those, at least for now. All that, plus state preemption and what’s essentially stand your ground in everything but name. Of course, we’re going to have a hell of a fight to keep it.

        • WA has a fairly liberal set of gun laws, but they definitely don’t beat AZ or AK. It also still has that silly restriction on SBRs – at least we can have suppressors now…

  2. I won’t be open carrying no matter what the verdict, but I do hope this passes. I don’t want to be accused of brandishing on those rare occasions when my CCW isn’t concealed.

    • Thank you…that’s been my point all along, and was the point I made to my representative.

    • HB 1304 (authored by my rep) should take care of the brandishing issue, even if open carry doesn’t pass (which hopefully it will); changes the wording in Section 46.035(a) from “intentionally fails to conceal” to “intentionally displays,” and removes “deadly” from “deadly force” in Section 46.034(h).

    • We’ve been watching this topic at work for months and it’s finally coming around.

      I don’t plan on carrying openly either, except when I hunt, but I’m looking forward to not worrying about raising my arm up in the store to get something off the shelf.

      Realized my shirt raised up last week at Lowe’s when I was carrying a bag of mulch. Oops.

  3. This is happening on my birthday while I will be in Rockport, TX.

    Oh what a present it would be; please let this pass, Texas!!!

  4. Texas doesn’t allow open carry of handguns. Rifles and shotguns are legal.

    There was an incident in Dallas back in 2000 where the DPD was lined up on one side of a street with their shotguns, and a bunch of Black Panthers were lined up on the other with _their_ shotguns. I saw a number of baffled online commenters remark, “Why aren’t the police arresting those guys?” And a number of equally baffled Texans replying, “Why? They aren’t doing anything illegal.”

    • Robert, your post made me go look up the Texas carrying laws, and I believe you are right, it only says you may not carry, ” a handgun, illegal knife, or club,” with no mention of long guns! That is awesome.

      I would have made the trip from Houston to these hearings but I’ll be at work tomorrow. I’m glad we’ll have Leghorn there to report back to us. I’m also glad to say that my representative, Ed Thompson, is a co author of HB 700. I hope these recent assaults on our 2A rights will finally motivate these RINOs to bring open carry to our state.

  5. I’ll be at Longhorn Caverns with my CASA kids, so I can’t make it but I’m about to be on the phone with my state rep and this will be topic number one.

    Oh, and Rudy’s..really? Advice for you….Salt Lick…Round Round..go there.

      • Salt Lick is worth the sacrifice if you’re wicked hungry, their family style is the best all-you-can-eat BBQ I know of, and you can basically doggy-bag an entire plate of meat with a go-cup when you’re done.

        Franklin’s is worth the queue on a July day in Austin, but my favorite is still probably Snow’s.

        Plus, there’s no danger of mixing your sweet tea with gasoline!

      • Rudy’s is consistently the second best BBQ in town, and it’s inexpensive and easy to get. The one on 360 in West Austin is the best in the City. I’ve had brisket there that was every bit as good a Salt Lick. Not always, but sometimes. Salt Lick can be sublime, but I’ve had barely edible brisket there, too. Line is too long for Franklin. Sorry, but unless _someone else_ is in that line for you, it’s not worth it.

    • Meh; the Salt Lick is overhyped. It’s more famous for the ambiance at the Driftwood location than the food, which is probably a 7. There are far better places in Central Texas, and Rudy’s is one of them–even for a chain. Try Snow’s BBQ in Lexington or Franklin BBQ in Austin. Unfortunately, you need to get to those early in the day, definitely not a pop in while you fuel your tank thing. [Debate over the best BBQ in Central Texas might be the one topic to rival the caliber war.]

      • I’d add fuel to the fire… Larry’s in Salado, Schoepf’s in Belton, and Bone’s Cracked Rib in Killeen. I always say, if i need a knife to cut my brisket it weren’t cooked good enuf. Further, BBQ places kind of remind me of the axiom that the best defense weapon there is, is the one you have with you. The best BBQ place is the place can make it to during a lunch break.

  7. I’m not holding my breath, dont they try this every few years? But i can still hope i guess.

  8. Campus carry failed two years ago…but maybe with all the nationwide BS…it will pass just to show that you don’t mess with Texas.

  9. Glad I live in Texas..recently received my US residency ,and I cant wait to buy my first firearm and start exercising my 2nd amendment rights.

    • Glad to have fine folks such as yourself in our state! If you’re in Houston, check out The Arms Room in League City, they’re fine folks and have an excellent range facility.

  13. Salt Lick is a dinner/weekend lunch spot, not a place you can stop in for a quick meal. The original Rudy’s in SA also has been mentioned on a few “best BBQ” lists over the years as well, so they’re definitely no slouch.

    • Ah, the original Rudy’s. Big difference from gas station hwy 35 Rudy’s. All these Texans on the blog, we should have a TTAG range day.

  15. “Washington beats all those, at least for now.”

    Yes, agree with you. I spend the other half of my time in Washington. However your qualifier “at least for now” is important. The Democrats control Washington state and they are always trying to get some new law passed. Just today our new governor was on the news complaining about how the bill for universal background checks was stalled.

    If the Democrats had their way we would be like California and some eastern states as far as gun laws go. They do have the numbers but the state constitution is so strongly pro-gun rights that it makes life difficult for them. I am sure you remember Seattle Mayor Nickels and his attempt to outlaw guns in city parks. The law was found unconstitutional and as far as I know in its short life was never enforced.

    However given time the anti-gun forces may win. That won’t happen in the foreseeable future in states like Alaska where guns are part of the culture. Even people that come to Alaska from the east coast and have an east coast fear/hatred of guns often convert within a year or so of living there, especially if they live in the bush and not in the metro Los Anchorage area. I don’t think many other states let people buy guns and ammo with food stamps. Are there any other?

    Also do not forget that Washington has a prohibition against fully automatic firearms for civilians. Yes, I know there is a legal way around it but let’s keep quiet about that or they crack down on it! The anti-gun media seems ignorant about it as are even most gun owners. I hope it stays that way.

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