So basically, this is why we can't have nice things?Charles L. Cotton wrote:The sheriff was wrong, the judge followed the law, albeit begrudgingly, and I'm glad she got her concealed weapon permit back.
However, we should note that the reaction of the non-carrying people at this public event is exactly what I fear would happen in Texas. The fact that open-carry is technically legal in 44 states, doesn't meant that carrying openly doesn't cause the gun owner problems. I acknowledge that my concern about Texans' reaction to open-carry may prove to be unfounded. It's unfortunate that supporters of open-carry won't admit that the claim that it's legal in 44 states and "doesn't cause any problems" is misleading at best.
Chas.
I'm with you on this one. As with any newly recovered freedom, there will be those who insist upon taking advantage of it as quickly and annoyingly as possible, just because they can. When I was in college, the city (80% students, 20% locals) was dry on Sundays, including restaurants. Finally, the city was convinced to lift the Sunday suspension for a year, because the case was made that restaurants did not want to come to the town for fear of losing money on Sundays. Sure enough, on the first Sunday, there were lines of students hundreds of feet long at every restaurant trying to take advantage of the new law. All it did was reinforce in the city's mind that students were going to start causing trouble on Sundays, etc. A few new restaurants moved into town that year, but the city reinstituted the ban the next year, and the restaurants are now wanting to leave. As wonderful and as nice as a majority of gun owners and CHLers are, I just know that there are going to be those few who insist on being idiots and showing off their "new freedom" in the worst ways possible (from a PR perspective).
I'll support an OC movement, but I'm definitely not pushing for it.