Is That a Gun in Your Pants?

A Utah college student proudly wears his Colt while sipping

some java at Starbucks. (Photo by Ellen Jaskol/L. A. Times)

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports on the movement to allow Texans to openly carry handguns:

More than a month before the legislative session starts Jan. 13, gun-rights supporters are asking state lawmakers to pass an "open carry" law to let Texans
stop covering up the guns they carry and wear them openly.

They are putting their message on billboards, on banners on cabs and in radio ads, asking others to sign on to the cause.

"We are targeting Texas," said Mike Stollenwerk, co-founder of http://www.opencarry.org/, a champion of the growing nationwide effort. "Texas is probably the most pro-gun state, but doesn’t have open-carry laws.

"As Texans realize how restrictive their rights are . . . there will be an awakening. Get ready for a showdown in Austin come January."

Texas is somewhat of an open-carry battleground because it is one of only six states where handguns cannot, in some form, legally be worn in plain view. Texas residents may carry concealed handguns if they have a permit.

More than 28,000 people have signed an online petition asking Gov. Rick Perry and the Legislature to make Texas an open-carry state.

Dallas Morning News columnist Jacquielynn Floyd makes these observations on the proposal:

It would be heresy – on both sides of this contentious debate – to suggest that allowing duly licensed handgun owners in the Lone Star State to openly display their sidearms probably wouldn't make an appreciable difference in life as we now know it.

People won't be much more likely than they already are to shoot each other over 11 items in the 10-or-less supermarket express line, as those who favor gun limitations may be relied upon to predict.

On the other hand, we're not going to make crime evaporate by visibly packing heat, as the gun lobbies so wishfully expect. They love to talk about the deterrent effect of guns-for-the-good-guys, but if criminals were really that risk-averse, they'd be in a different line of work.

Because my immediate family includes a fair number of responsible and well-trained gun owners, I don't harbor a particular dread at the very idea of firearms.

And statistics suggest that Texas' decade-old law allowing residents to carry concealed weapons did not lead to mayhem. Department of Public Safety records of conviction rates for handgun license holders show that in 2006 – the last available accounting year – legal gun owners were accountable for barely two-tenths of a percent of all felony convictions.

Moreover, Texas is one of few states that doesn't allow legal gun owners to carry them openly. Some states require people with guns to carry them where everybody can see them.

So when you get right down to it, as a matter of safety and practicality, open-carry probably isn't a dramatic departure from what Texas law already permits.

What do you think, Truckers? Is open carry a good idea? Or not?