Texas set to allow unlicensed handgun carry despite outcry

[Dill]

(05-26-2021, 03:07 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: https://apnews.com/article/texas-gun-politics-shootings-government-and-politics-28ef6e5ea8dd48a57114b67e5a885fad

More at the link.

The National Rifle Association was among those supporting the measure, and a spokesman called it the “most significant” gun-rights measure in the state’s history.

“A right requiring you to pay a tax or obtain a government permission slip is not a right at all,” said Jason Ouimet, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

Texas already allows rifles to be carried in public without a license. The measure sent to Abbott would allow anyone age 21 or older to carry a handgun as long as they don’t have felony criminal convictions or some other legal prohibition in their background.

But without the state background check, law enforcement groups worry there would be no way to weed them out in advance. The bill does include stiffer penalties for felons caught illegally carrying guns.

This reminds of Fred's hypothetical example on the "Teen girl killed in Columbus by police" thread: how would law officers sort out who's legal and who's not if they stop four guys open carrying--especially, in this case, if no "government permission slip" or background check has secured a paper trail. 

Second comment, if I remember correctly, many Western frontier towns forbid open carry. Somehow, they got the impression that even if it allowed gun toters to better defend themselves in public, that did not make the public safer. Can this be about more than safety, especially public safety? 

Finally, I'm wondering how the new law might affect future mass shootings. I can envision a worst-case scenario in which a mass shooter with a death wish walks into a tightly packed music or sports venue and opens fire. Then good-men-with-guns fire back. Can everyone tell who the original shooter was, e.g., those guys who just ran out of the restroom guns drawn AFTER hearing the initial shots? Is it certain that our pistol packers would not fire into bystanders, adding to the shooter's desired death toll? Then the cops arrive on scene too, ready to use deadly force cuz its their job to protect, and perhaps they have been taught not to take chances with their own safety.