It looks like Open Carry is off the agenda for this year in Texas. Over time I have not become the biggest advocate of open carry as a form of activism, but I will always support it being legal, and for people being able to do it, if they so choose, without being harassed by the authorities. I am also not a fan of all or nothing approaches when it comes to legislation:
State Rep. Debbie Riddle, whom the open carry folks tagged months ago as the bills presumptive sponsor, had the legislation drafted but never introduced it. Her chief of staff explained to open carry members in an email that such legislation was unlikely to pass and that talks of an open carry proposal have already caused difficulties for other Second Amendments bills.
If it’s any consolation, Riddle, R-Houston, did file legislation earlier this week that would allow a disabled person with a concealed carry license to openly carry a firearm if their disability prevents them from otherwise concealing it.
“That’s not exactly what we were going for,” McCarthy said.
The situation is that you have a friendly legislator on the matter, who was willing to draft legislation, and who says the votes aren’t there, and offers a compromise that will pass. She offered to make a bill that would cover disabled people who can’t easily conceal. Why not run with that, if the votes aren’t there for full open carry? I don’t see much of a reason to hold off. It’s not what you really want, but it helps get you somewhere. Is it that Texas open carry advocates still want to be able to use that issue? Well, once they offer to deal with that for you, it’s not really a bargaining chip anymore. If your legislator is offering to run that bill for you, for God’s sake, take it!
The article goes on to describe how the TSRA and NRA did not get behind the legislation. This will further fuel the rumor tha NRA is against open carry, but this is not really true. It is true that it’s not been a high priority for them, but I believe they will support a bill when the right political opportunity presents itself.
Why not pass what you can and push for more later? Seems like a logical approach to me.
You mean you can’t open carry in Texas? I didn’t figure there was anything you could do here in Virginia that you couldn’t in Texas