A short article in the Daily Breeze today (Jan. 28). Houston’s transit agency repealed its ban on carrying concealed handguns on buses and commuter trains.
Evidently a {Texas?} law passed in 2003 stated that cities cannot bar licensed gun owners from carrying concealed weapons in public buildings.
Good, finally a law that makes sense.
Adrianspeeder
Carrying a concealed weapon makes sense???
People will be a lot more polite to each other.
Kurt
Concealed weapons hummmm…I beleve that if you have a leagal legit permit to carry a weapon even a concealed one you should be allowed to carry it were ever you want on government property. It your carrying it on privite property and the property isn’t yours than the rules change. If the owner of the property doesn’t want you to carry weapons on their prop than the gun owner should obey the own’s rule.
Speaking of concealed weapons in the transportation industry, many airline pilots are authorized to carry handguns (concealed weapons) on plains to protect themselves. I wonder what some workers in the rail industry think about this idea??//
I wish I could be so optimistic. That may be true of Houston, but having ridden the New York City subways every day for over 2 decades I can tell you that allowing concealed weapons would be catastrophe here. Imagine squeezing into a non-airconditioned subway car packed with people on a 90+ degree summer day. During rush hours expect to be pushed up against someone else for most of the ride. Tempers run pretty hot, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen fistfights break out between strangers over the merest incidental contact. Often one of the hotheads was a kid. Do you think kids run through the possible consequences in their heads before pulling a gun? Knowing the street kids here, I don’t think so. In fact, a recurring story in the tabloids here has the theme: kid A perceives slight from kid B, runs home, gets gun, and shoots kid B. Obviously kid A had plenty of time to consider what he was doing. Just think what would have happened if one of them had had a weapon and had started shooting in a crowded subway car, or if both did. Almost no one in NYC qualifies for a license to carry a gun. Licenses are a meaningless formality to these people. I’ve seen people get injured in the panic trying to get away from the fistfights. That’s bad enough.
Another time I saw a fender bender incident. One driver came out with a tire iron and the other a black jack. Fortunately other motorists got out of their cars and restrained both before they could come to blows. This wouldn’t have happened if either had a gun.
Ok,
You guys can calm down…
First, “kids” are not going to go through the process to apply for the conceled hand gun permit…
Second, you have to be 21.
Third, its a long, drawn out procedure, requires you to be fingerprinted, then subject to a fairly extensive background check through the Texas Rangers division of the Texas DPS, then the FBI gets to look you over.
If you pass muster, you pony up $90.00, and take a rules and application class from a state certified instructor.
Most of the class involves when you can, and can not use your firearm.
And yes, you have to qualify, meaning you have to be able to shoot accuratly.
The results of your written test and shooting test are sent back to the State, and if you pass the class and background, they issue you a photo ID.
You have to requalify every four years.
If you carry a conceled handgun, it must be just that, conceled in such a manner that the average citizen can not see the gun in any manner.
If you use a shoulder holster, you have to wear a coat over the gun and hoslter, and the coat must completly cover the gun and holster, including the outline of the firearm.
So all you 44 mag Dirty Harry types are smooth outta luck, you cant hide a gun that big.
My wife carriers her Browing 380 either in her purse, or, like me, in a belt holster in the small of her back, under a coat.
The laws about when you can use your gun are pretty strict…along the lines of having to be able to prove you were in fear of your life.
No, you can not shoot someone who is moving away from you, nor can you let off a few rounds at the kids vandalizing your car.
If you do use your gun, you had better be able to prove, beyond any doubt, that you were in fear for yours, or someone elses life.
So the person you shoot better have a gun in their hand, and you better hope any witnesses to what happens s
100% truth Ed. Wish i could get my point across as easy as you do.
Adrianspeeder
Excellent points, Ed, and very well annunciated. It should also be pointed out that states like Texas, Utah, the Carolina’s, etc., that allow a wide swath of the citizenry to qualify for concealed weapons permits tend to have far lower incidences of violent crime than do the states with extremely tight gun control laws, due to the criminals not knowing which of their potential victims are carrying protection. Overall, Texas (except for the border region…El Paso, Laredo, Brownsville, etc.) has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the nation.
Sincerely, Ross R. Moore, Jr.
Thanks Ed. I don’t know why people who don’t live in Texas need to worry about this. We in Texas know this law has been very successful.
m
Obviously you’ve never walked the streets of DC. Carrying an M1 tank with you would make sense, if you could find a place to park it.[:D]
Wouldn’t you want to drive it? It’s got to be awfully heavy…
Okay, I plead guilty to sloppy grammar. If I could carry an M1 tank (which weighs 68 tons IIRC), I wouldn’t need it.
Methinks that it’s not the laws, but the culture that makes a huge difference in gun incidents. Remember - the gangs in LA (and elsewhere) know that members of other gangs are carrying. Still a lot of shooting going on. I suspect that if you plopped one of the major metropolises down in the middle of Texas, the murder rate would change a lot. Witness the disclaimer about the border region of Texas. Is the culture different there than in the panhandle? You betcha!
Start stuffing people into Houston’s transit the way they do in NYC and see if the incidents rise. And hey, I might be Mister Cool with my gun 99 44/100% of the time, but don’t push me…
BTW - I don’t own any firearms… My pellet pistol won’t do a lot of damage. Probably just make you madder…
Larry is right to a point. Culture does make a difference. Some of the gangs in LA and other big cities don’t hesitate to shoot. Their attitude is shoot before the other guy shoots back. However, these same people are going to carry guns regardless of the law. Most of the gang-bangers are already convicted felons who cannot legally purchase, or possess a gun in most states. Take a look at DC. DC’s gun laws are so strict that you cannot legally possess a handgun in your own home, yet DC has had the highest murder rate in the US for 14 of the last 15 years. England in another prime example. England banned nearly all guns about 6 years ago. Since then, their violent crime rate has risen 69%!
When concealed carry laws started becoming popular, the anti-gun groups ranted and raved that there would be shoot-outs on the streets, subways, and the sidewalks. It just hasn’t happened. Florida was one of the first states to pass a concealed carry law. The percentage of CCW holders who have had their permits revoked due to misuse is .001%.
Take it from a LEO, the criminals are going to carry regardless of the law. The concealed carry laws just put the law-abiding on equal terms.
Derrick
I love reading posts from people who make sense.
thanks, Derrick
Betcha NO ONE’s gonna hop a turnstyle there…!!![:0][:D][;)][:o)][:I]
Just a postcard from beyond the edge…Vic[;)]
Actually, there are not any turnstyles…just little machines,…ya feed it a buck and get a ticket…show the ticket to the train driver,(yes, they are drivers, from the Metro bus driver ranks) and have a seat.
Every once in a while, the Metro Police will check randomly for tickets.
So far, we have not had any shoot out in the streets…
The law in Texas is very strict about when you can shoot…
If a guy were to assualt you, but had no visible weapon, you cant shoot him, unless you can prove you were in fear for your life, and had no way to retreat or leave the scene.
On the other hand, if he sticks his hand in the pocket of his jacket, make the shape of a gun, and points it at you and say “stick 'em up”, your free to let a little air out of him.
After sunset, if you find someone burglarizing your home or business, you can shoot to protect your property from theft.
But you have to be able to prove theft was the intent, not just vandalizing…
You cant shoot a vandal, but you can shoot a burglar!
So if the neighborhood punks are egging your car, you call the cops, but if they pop the lock, you can pop right back.
The class you have to take to get your conceled handgun permit involves a lot, and I mean a lot, of situational test and examples…you role play a lot, and get graded on your ability to make decisions.
Trust me, over 50% of the people who apply either never clear the back ground check, or fail the class.
You get two trys on the test, both the classroom and the actual shooting test,(target pratice).
Flunk twice, you cant get a permit, ever.
And, what isnt ever explained is that, whatever gun you qualify with is the only gun you can carry.
My wife qualified with her Browning .380, she cant carry my medium frame .357 magnum revolver, only her .380 semi automatic.
I have qualified with both, and can carry either one, but o
Actually, the metropolises of Texas (little itty bitty places like Dallas, Forth Worth, San Antonio, Austin, etc.) are quite safe. The border areas along the Rio Grande Valley in Texas (and similar areas in Southern Arizona and the Southern Imperial Valley of California) have substantially higher violent crime rates affected by the coyotes of La Eme (heavily-armed smugglers of human beings, narco-traffickers, and a few rustlers and home-invasion robbers and truck hijackers thrown in for good measure, and frequently with a former background in the Mexican Army). I’ve lost four relatives on my mother’s side in a couple of different locales in the Rio Grande Valley to those folks. That’s why the good farmers and ranchers in that area are pretty well fed up with government’s apparent abdication of responsibility in that regard by their not keeping the border safe, secure, and inpenetrable by that criminal crowd.
Sincerely, Ross R. Moore, Jr.
One thing I ALWAYS point out is that any type of gun is deadly used correctly.
In fact when it is said to ban “assult rifles”, that term fits even an air rifle pellet gun. Funny that’s not what people mean when suggesting laws, but WILL say that if laws are passed banning “assult rifles”.
Lets keep this goin clean and senseable.
Adrianspeeder