Empire Control Room & Garage
Was It Legal
RECEIVED Thu., July 30, 2020
Dear Editor
Is it a good idea to allow open carry of assault style weapons? Are you comfortable with a person openly carrying an AK-47 style rifle in an El Paso Walmart parking lot? Or walking down Congress Avenue in Austin?
Monday, August 3, 2020 is the one-year anniversary of the El Paso Walmart shooting in which 23 people were murdered and 23 injured. The shooter walked calmly across the Walmart parking lot openly carrying an AK-47 style rifle. Was it legal? Yes. He did not commit a crime until he opened fire.
In Texas it is legal to openly carry a long gun in public if it is not in a “manner calculated to alarm.” No license, training, or certification is required to openly carry an assault style weapon. Well, walking across a parking lot openly carrying an assault style weapon is alarming to many. For one example, think about the traumatized folks in El Paso and someone openly carrying a long gun today.
In a more recent example, was it legal for an Austin protestor to openly carry an assault style weapon? Yes. Did it lead to tragic consequences. Yes.
The late Justice Scalia, a conservative Justice, wrote for the majority in District of Columbia vs. Heller that the Second Amendment is not unlimited. Limiting the open carry of long guns should be an easy change for Texas lawmakers.
Is it a good idea to allow open carry of assault style weapons? Are you comfortable with a person openly carrying an AK-47 style rifle in an El Paso Walmart parking lot? Or walking down Congress Avenue in Austin?
Monday, August 3, 2020 is the one-year anniversary of the El Paso Walmart shooting in which 23 people were murdered and 23 injured. The shooter walked calmly across the Walmart parking lot openly carrying an AK-47 style rifle. Was it legal? Yes. He did not commit a crime until he opened fire.
In Texas it is legal to openly carry a long gun in public if it is not in a “manner calculated to alarm.” No license, training, or certification is required to openly carry an assault style weapon. Well, walking across a parking lot openly carrying an assault style weapon is alarming to many. For one example, think about the traumatized folks in El Paso and someone openly carrying a long gun today.
In a more recent example, was it legal for an Austin protestor to openly carry an assault style weapon? Yes. Did it lead to tragic consequences. Yes.
The late Justice Scalia, a conservative Justice, wrote for the majority in District of Columbia vs. Heller that the Second Amendment is not unlimited. Limiting the open carry of long guns should be an easy change for Texas lawmakers.
Gyl Switzer
Texas Gun Sense
Texas Gun Sense
