New Constitutional carry law signed

[tvc184]

This afternoon Governor Abbott signed into law that on September 1 this year, people in Texas can openly or concealed carry a handgun without any license.

Let the shootouts begin on that day...... as so many of the comments I have seen. Of course they said the same thing in 1995 when the CHL law was passed, about 12 years ago when you could be in carry a handgun in a vehicle without a license and four years ago when open carry was allowed with an LTC.

[LumRaiderFan]

Outstanding!

[baddog]

Barney Fifes of the state, here’s your bullet. I think for the majority, this is a good law. I do think there will be accidental shootings, but we have those anyway. Some people still aren’t allowed to play with matches.

[mat]

It probably won’t have much negative affect. However, biased media will be all over any incident that could be attributed to this change.

[Bobcat1]

12 hours ago, tvc184 said:

This afternoon Governor Abbott signed into law that on September 1 this year, people in Texas can openly or concealed carry a handgun without any license.

Let the shootouts begin on that day...... as so many of the comments I have seen. Of course they said the same thing in 1995 when the CHL law was passed, about 12 years ago when you could be in carry a handgun in a vehicle without a license and four years ago when open carry was allowed with an LTC.

How do you feel about this? 

[thetragichippy]

13 hours ago, tvc184 said:

This afternoon Governor Abbott signed into law that on September 1 this year, people in Texas can openly or concealed carry a handgun without any license.

Let the shootouts begin on that day...... as so many of the comments I have seen. Of course they said the same thing in 1995 when the CHL law was passed, about 12 years ago when you could be in carry a handgun in a vehicle without a license and four years ago when open carry was allowed with an LTC.

 

- Since you can now open carry without CHL, can your gun be in plain sight in your vehicle or does it have to still be concealed?

[SmashMouth]

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[tvc184]

7 hours ago, thetragichippy said:

 

- Since you can now open carry without CHL, can your gun be in plain sight in your vehicle or does it have to still be concealed?

It could always be open carried under the LTC as long it was on you in a holster.

What has almost go unnoticed, they also passed a law in this legislative session that if it is open carried in a car (regardless of constitutional carry or LTC), as long as it is in a holster it does not have to be on your person. As an example you could have a paddle holster or concealed carry holster and not actually have to wear it in the car. You could leave it in the holster on the seat because for some people it is uncomfortable to wear it while in the car. With this new clarification you can leave it in the holster on the seat so you could easily put it on as you are getting out to go shopping, etc.

[tvc184]

8 hours ago, Bobcat1 said:

How do you feel about this? 

I am OK with it.

I understand the concern but I think it is much ado about nothing. If you go back to when the CHL passed 26 years ago, it was the claimed that now the gun fights would start. I did not think that was true but I thought there would be some Incidents. I saw no evidence of any people legally carrying, going out and committing crimes. I was a police officer for the last 26 years under that law and can think of maybe one incident where we arrested a CHL holder for committing a crime. Compared to the general population, I think that is a pretty good results for a CHL holder not being a criminal.

They changed the law to more or less define traveling as merely being in your car. So for the last 12 to 14 years or so, anyone could carry a handgun in their car anytime they wanted as long as it was concealed. Under your seat, in the glove box, in the consul or even on your seat under a towel, it was legal. Has the homicide rate going up in that timeframe because of this? I don’t think so. There is always the potential that a road rage incident happened because the person had a lawful handgun on him however a person who is willing to shoot you because you did not put on your blinker, would not care about the laws on handguns anyway. That is a part of the argument I never understand is it people seem to think that before the CHL came out, there were no shooting crimes. If fact violent crime has been down somewhat in the last few years but I think it runs in cycles. Since Covid came out about a year and a half ago there seems to be an uptick in violence and also protest like the George Floyd riots. Even though violence has increased somewhat in that timeframe, I don’t think it’s because of carry laws. A person willing to go out and commit a murder on the street is not going to care  about a misdemeanor handgun law.

We have always been able to carry rifles and shotguns openly in Texas. When the LTC law came out and a few people really got crazy on some Internet forums saying that this was a game changer and so on. Yet again, I have seen nothing to indicate it is a change in the crime level because people could now carry a handgun openly.

It is just a personal belief but I think this law will change absolutely nothing. Only thing it will change is a price as you won’t have  to pay the $8 a year tax for the LTC. 

[thetragichippy]

13 hours ago, tvc184 said:

 Only thing it will change is a price as you won’t have  to pay the $8 a year tax for the LTC. 

So, reasons to keep CHL is no background checks to purchase guns and the reciprocal agreements with other states.....

I miss anything? 

[LumRaiderFan]

14 hours ago, tvc184 said:

I am OK with it.

I understand the concern but I think it is much ado about nothing. If you go back to when the CHL passed 26 years ago, it was the claimed that now the gun fights would start. I did not think that was true but I thought there would be some Incidents. I saw no evidence of any people legally carrying, going out and committing crimes. I was a police officer for the last 26 years under that law and can think of maybe one incident where we arrested a CHL holder for committing a crime. Compared to the general population, I think that is a pretty good results for a CHL holder not being a criminal.

They changed the law to more or less define traveling as merely being in your car. So for the last 12 to 14 years or so, anyone could carry a handgun in their car anytime they wanted as long as it was concealed. Under your seat, in the glove box, in the consul or even on your seat under a towel, it was legal. Has the homicide rate going up in that timeframe because of this? I don’t think so. There is always the potential that a road rage incident happened because the person had a lawful handgun on him however a person who is willing to shoot you because you did not put on your blinker, would not care about the laws on handguns anyway. That is a part of the argument I never understand is it people seem to think that before the CHL came out, there were no shooting crimes. If fact violent crime has been down somewhat in the last few years but I think it runs in cycles. Since Covid came out about a year and a half ago there seems to be an uptick in violence and also protest like the George Floyd riots. Even though violence has increased somewhat in that timeframe, I don’t think it’s because of carry laws. A person willing to go out and commit a murder on the street is not going to care  about a misdemeanor handgun law.

We have always been able to carry rifles and shotguns openly in Texas. When the LTC law came out and a few people really got crazy on some Internet forums saying that this was a game changer and so on. Yet again, I have seen nothing to indicate it is a change in the crime level because people could now carry a handgun openly.

It is just a personal belief but I think this law will change absolutely nothing. Only thing it will change is a price as you won’t have  to pay the $8 a year tax for the LTC. 

TVC, how will this affect reciprocal state agreements?

[Big girl]

19 hours ago, tvc184 said:

I am OK with it.

I understand the concern but I think it is much ado about nothing. If you go back to when the CHL passed 26 years ago, it was the claimed that now the gun fights would start. I did not think that was true but I thought there would be some Incidents. I saw no evidence of any people legally carrying, going out and committing crimes. I was a police officer for the last 26 years under that law and can think of maybe one incident where we arrested a CHL holder for committing a crime. Compared to the general population, I think that is a pretty good results for a CHL holder not being a criminal.

They changed the law to more or less define traveling as merely being in your car. So for the last 12 to 14 years or so, anyone could carry a handgun in their car anytime they wanted as long as it was concealed. Under your seat, in the glove box, in the consul or even on your seat under a towel, it was legal. Has the homicide rate going up in that timeframe because of this? I don’t think so. There is always the potential that a road rage incident happened because the person had a lawful handgun on him however a person who is willing to shoot you because you did not put on your blinker, would not care about the laws on handguns anyway. That is a part of the argument I never understand is it people seem to think that before the CHL came out, there were no shooting crimes. If fact violent crime has been down somewhat in the last few years but I think it runs in cycles. Since Covid came out about a year and a half ago there seems to be an uptick in violence and also protest like the George Floyd riots. Even though violence has increased somewhat in that timeframe, I don’t think it’s because of carry laws. A person willing to go out and commit a murder on the street is not going to care  about a misdemeanor handgun law.

We have always been able to carry rifles and shotguns openly in Texas. When the LTC law came out and a few people really got crazy on some Internet forums saying that this was a game changer and so on. Yet again, I have seen nothing to indicate it is a change in the crime level because people could now carry a handgun openly.

It is just a personal belief but I think this law will change absolutely nothing. Only thing it will change is a price as you won’t have  to pay the $8 a year tax for the LTC. 

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

[BS Wildcats]

12 minutes ago, Big girl said:

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

Yes

[Englebert]

53 minutes ago, Big girl said:

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

Yes.

Are you okay with a person voting without knowledge of the candidates? Should we have voter training?

[thetragichippy]

6 hours ago, Big girl said:

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

You apparently have not took the CHL training……majority of the course is about where you can carry, very little training with actual firearm…..besides, I doubt all the criminals that carry have any type of gun training…. 

[tvc184]

19 hours ago, thetragichippy said:

So, reasons to keep CHL is no background checks to purchase guns and the reciprocal agreements with other states.....

I miss anything? 

Yes.

There are also several laws that the LTC gives more rights. As an example, federal law prohibits be carrying on school campuses or within 1000 feet of the school unless you are licensed by the state to have a handgun. So a person with a Texas LTC can have his handgun in his car while he picks up his kids at school. A person who does not have an LTC is committing a federal felony. Will the person ever be caught? Maybe not but if the police make some kind of call or there’s some kind of incident and they discover your weapon, it could be turned over to the ATF and prosecuted and the person may end up in federal prison. Again, that may not be likely but if you want to know the letter of the law, if you carry a handgun within 1000 feet of a school campus and you do not have a Texas LTC, you’re committing a federal felony.

Similarly Texas law allows people to have concealed handgun on college campuses including some buildings with restrictions set by the college if the person has an LTC.. A person without an LTC has no such privilege to carry on campus and again, would be committing a Texas felony.

There might be others that I cannot think of off the top of my head but the LTC gives you slightly more locations you can carry legally both under state law and federal law.

[tvc184]

19 hours ago, LumRaiderFan said:

TVC, how will this affect reciprocal state agreements?

Under the new Texas law, you do not have to be a citizen of the US or Texas.. Any person within the state of Texas whether they be the resident of another state or even a legal alien, will benefit from this law.

The Texas LTC will still be offered and will give certain privileges that Constitutional carry does not and part of that is carrying  in other states which recognize the Texas LTC. Another benefit is being able to carry concealed in certain areas on campus of colleges. Another is not committing a federal felony for picking up a child at a school which is a federal crime unless a person has a state license. It is also the benefit of being able to buy any firearm from a federally licensed dealer, as an example Academy sporting goods, without the need for a background check.

Basically if you’re talking about just reciprocity, nothing changes. Texas LTC will still be offered and has those listed benefits and will still be recognized by approximately 20 other states. We actually had reciprocity with other states however several of them have gone to Constitutional carry also. Counting the constitutional carry states and the LTC reciprocity, I think they were about 38 states where you can carry if you have a Texas LTC.

[tvc184]

14 hours ago, Big girl said:

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

Yes.

Over 2 million Texans now carry with the Texas LTC and everybody including a juveniles can carry legally inside of a car as long as it’s concealed. None of that including the Texas LTC, require any training. There is now a four hour class for the Texas LTC however it covers laws such as, you cannot shoot somebody for shoplifting and it is better if you get in an argument, just simply walk away. They can currently be taken online so in a fact, there is no real training of any consequence and there is absolutely no firearms training even under the LTC. I believe there is a misconception that the LTC currently requires a firearms training and it does not. Mayor in Texas carry under that law with no training and people ask how the new law is going to affect people with no training required. The answer is the old law requires no training either.

[tvc184]

14 hours ago, Big girl said:

Are you ok with the fact that a person does not to have training; in order, to carry.

Yes.

Over 2 million Texans now carry with the Texas LTC and everybody including a juveniles can carry legally inside of a car as long as it’s concealed. None of that including the Texas LTC, require any training. There is now a four hour class for the Texas LTC however it covers laws such as, you cannot shoot somebody for shoplifting and it is better if you get in an argument, just simply walk away. They can currently be taken online so in a fact, there is no real training of any consequence and there is absolutely no firearms training even under the LTC. I believe there is a misconception that the LTC currently requires a firearms training and it does not. Mayor in Texas carry under that law with no training and people ask how the new law is going to affect people with no training required. The answer is the old law requires no training either.