Texas gun owners lament new open carry laws

Appears the new open carry laws in Texas, which have expressly allowed guns onto College campuses and into psychiatric hospitals, are back firing against open and concealed carry enthusiasts. Private business and property owners can ban firearms from their property by either posting signs, or verbally informing armed people they are not welcome to carry their weapons. Firearms enthusiasts are finding a lot of new signs around Texas.

The Trace has observed a wonderful exchange on a Texas gun rights forum:

Others had a more measured responses. "I would LOVE to OC everywhere I go," Lynyrd wrote. "The fact is, it makes some people uncomfortable. Time may change that, but it will take years." He cautioned his fellow gun owners to remember that "most all of the places we go outside our homes is still PRIVATE PROPERTY." (Business owners can verbally notify open-carrying customers that they are not welcome in their establishments, regardless of whether a sign is posted or not.)

Weighing in again, the original poster, LTUME1978, felt that for Texas's concealed carriers, the damage had been done. "The lid is off this can of worms and it will never go back," reads a later post in the thread. "I hope the right to walk around looking like Wyatt Earp is worth it to the open carry folks because a lot of us are loosing our right to concealed carry and it may cost some of us our lives for your privilege to play cowboy."