Open Carry or Constitutional Carry? Second Amendment advocates weight in
CHL instructor Raul Camacho has 7 years of law enforcement experience. He teaches gun safety courses and CHL classes at "Safety Measures" in northwest Austin. Like the rest of the gun community, he heard our next governor, Gregg Abbott say this last week: "If an open carry bill is passed by the House and Senate and arrives at my desk, I will sign it into law."
Camacho says he supports the right to open carry only with a permit and training -- that doesn't mean he thinks carrying openly is a good idea.
"I support if anyone wants to let's call it 'Open Carry' on their side hip or whatever with a handgun, I support that by all means...but I don't suggest it, ok? For safety reasons," Camacho said.
He says the problem is that it often attracts a lot of attention -- sometimes unwanted attention...and he says open carriers could be a target for criminals.
"They can grab that gun, knock you out, take that gun away from you, shoot you with it, knock you out or use it on somebody else," Camacho said.
Justin Delosh is the legislative director for Come and Take it Texas. He views the issue differently than Camacho.
"We support both rights, we support the right to concealed carry and the right to open carry. We think it's unethical for the state to profit off a person's ability to defend themselves. So we're pushing for both without a permit," Delosh said.
Hence the term "Constitutional Carry."
"Constitutional Carry means that if you're legally allowed to posses the firearm, you should be able to carry it openly or concealed without a permit," Delosh said.
If Abbott ends up signing a Constitutional Carry bill, Camacho says he won't support it.
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Open Carry or Constitutional Carry? Second Amendment advocates weight in