Texas Open Carry & Wal-Mart Greeters May Clash
Russ Chastain 01.07.16
More laws, more problems.
That’s always the way it is. The more rules you have, the more trouble it is for everyone. And in this case, stores like Wal-Mart are reportedly bearing the brunt.
Texas recently began allowing open carry of handguns by folks who are licensed for concealed carry, and naturally, some folks are doing just that. But that creates a problem for retailers who sell alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine.
Apparently, Texas has a law that dictates that any business selling alcolohic beverages cannot “knowingly allow” someone without a license to carry a gun into their store. So when someone openly carries a gun into a Texas store, that store is legally bound to harass that person by asking to see his or her license and forced to turn away anyone who cannot (or will not) provide proof that their gun is being legally carried.
[Wal-Mart] told its managers to check gun licenses of people carrying firearms into stores.
State liquor laws prohibit unlicensed handguns in establishments that sell products with alcohol.
Thus, a store that knowingly allows unlicensed guns around alcohol could lose its liquor license.
Not exactly what most Wal-Mart greeters expected when they took the job. And not exactly a comfortable position for them, either.
Yet another reason not to carry openly. There was the time when a guy was attacked in Wal-Mart’s toy department while carrying openly. Then there was the fellow who was assaulted in a Wal-Mart bathroom and had his gun stolen because it wasn’t concealed. And of course, the Oregon guy openly carrying on the streets of Oregon who was boldly robbed of his nice new gun.
In my opinion, there is no advantage to open carry in public areas, but there are numerous disadvantages. What do you think?
