(Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense, rejecting a claim by Hawaii officials that the right only applies to guns kept at home.
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What is amazing is this is by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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I find it absolutely amazing that the 9th Circus got one right on a 2nd Amendment issue. They are usually very pro gun control.
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Six other appellate decisions said the same thing, as did the original Heller decision. So they were pretty boxed in.
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Hey Hawaii, what part of “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
Hey Texas, time to get with the program…
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Open carry in Texas is illegal without a LTC license to carry (previously known as a CHL concealed handgun license).
While there exists the possibility that the state will alter this in the future, the general disinterest that most CHL/LTC holders take towards open carry isn’t normalizing the practice. Thus the main exposure to the idea is the Open Carry protesters that don’t seem to play well in the public imagination.
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Meaning that 35 states do not. Texas needs to join the majority on this one.
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Looks like 5 restrict it, 30 allow it in various forms without a permit, and 15 license it.
I don’t see a groundswell behind the idea, myself. That’s not to say there aren’t advocates, simply that I don’t believe they have the numbers nor the sway to make it happen anytime soon.
I recall that Heller pretty explicitly affirmed the legality of permitting the possession of firearms - which likely includes permitting the public carry of them - so long as the permitting isn’t effectively a prohibition.
HB:1911 Relating to granting authority to carry a firearm to certain unlicensed persons and to related regulatory provisions and criminal offenses.
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=85R&Bill=HB1911
We might want to look at this … it may be up for a vote at some point soon …
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IANAL, but looking at this it seems the case revolved around the fact that he was denied a permit multiple times since Hawaii de facto banned concealed and open carry except for security guards, which means Hawaii is a “May Issue” state. Texas is a “Shall Issue” state so this case would be hit or miss for people to try and apply here.
The supreme court has held in the past the regulation on guns is fine as long as it doesn’t amount to a prohibition on a law abiding citizen, and in this case it seems that Hawaii was a de facto prohibition if not a de jure one. A quick search for statistics shows they’ve only issues 4 concealed permits in the past decade, and only about a few dozen open carry permits exist for security guards. I don’t know the accuracy of those stats as they seem to be repeated some places but I don’t have a source yet.
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I wonder if that HB number is just coincidental or someone has a sense of humor. 
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It could be. But when we have the awfully-convenient section 30.06 authorizing concealed carry it seems to be a wee bit more deliberate.
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In other news. Downlaoding 3D printedguns are now legal again.
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More open carry 2A explained.