In reading the entire article in the O.P, it seems that these idiots might have been in violation when they did this at a Chilli’s
“Long guns are not permitted in our restaurants based on regulation from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission,” the spokesperson said, “which prohibits a business that is licensed to sell or serve alcoholic beverages from allowing shotguns or rifles into the building.”
According to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission: “If an individual does choose to carry a rifle or shotgun into a TABC-licensed business, …a business owner may ask a patron to leave the premises. If the patron refuses, that individual may be subject to criminal trespassing charges under Texas Penal Code Section 30.05.”
But none of that suggests that the people carrying the guns broke the law.
The law does not prohibit people from carrying the guns. It prohibits business owners who serve alcohol from allowing guns onto the premises. So, had the men been allowed to remain, it would actually have been the business, and not the men themselves, that was violating the law.
The only way the men would be violating the law is if they refused the business owner’s request to leave. But this is not what happened.
Speaking for myself – it’s not. Although I have a concealed carry permit – and of course don’t need any permit anyway in Virginia for open carry – I rarely do. When I do, it’s not about the fear of being attacked but the desire to normalize the sight. So for myself, no, I wouldn’t accept that characterization.
As I read the Rhode Island scheme, it seems a city or town with a local police chief can empower the chief to issue permits. If the town declines to do so, then the A.G. can still issue permits.
In the article you linked above, a town with no police chief sought to empower their Town Clerk and Town Sergeant to issue permits, and then reversed course.
Do i understand you correctly? Your whole purpose of carrying a gun in public is to convince other people that there’s nothing wrong or unusual about carrying a gun in public?
If this is true, i think you’ve actually raised the bar for irrational arguments for carrying a gun.
The gentlemen in the video are in Texas. Certainly I would think that, if any populace were by and large accepting of open carry, it would be the populace of Texas. Yet these gentlemen, who presumably know the mood of their own state, seem to be operating under the impression that the population needs “exposure therapy”.
Now it may be that they’re pulling these stunts in urban areas of Texas. If so, and if you’re correct that the reasonableness of an opinion rests on where you are, then they’re trying to force an unreasonable situation on the populace of that urban area.
You and I do agree on one thing. When the first Sonic opened in my area, a family member had a strong desire to try it out and had some sort of coupon. We went and ordered the coupon deal for everyone. Afterwards, all were in agreement, NEVER AGAIN!
I am afraid I can’t answer your question completely, as I was quoting the article posted in the O. P. I did edit out the phrase “the individual is placing the business owner’s TABC license at risk”, originally positioned directly before the ellipses, but the ellipses themselves were actually copy/pasted from the article in the O. P. The article does include a link to the code in question.
To save you some time, I am going to provide the link to the TABC press release mhendo mention above, because it provides a link to what are apparently two pertinent codes, including the one cited by the article. Happy reading.
To what end do you want to normalize the sight? So that others can also carry thus working towards further normalization? What is your reason for wanting it normalized?
Once it’s completely normalized (assuming it can be) what will society have gained?
Nothing. But you realize that the operator would ask you questions about what was going on, right?
I suppose if you hung up at that point, police would respond. But if you answered the operator’s questions honestly (and were in Virginia) the mere fact that a man had a gun in a holster would not mandate officer response.
And that makes sense. In Rhode Island, the act is presumptively illegal; an officer seeing someone with a holstered pistol has probable cause to believe the individual is violating RIGL § 11-47-8.
Bricker, I will as always bow to your legal wisdom. However, I do believe that RIGL § 11-47-11: which you cited specifically says "to carry concealed upon his or her person a pistol or revolver ". I do not see anything about open carry there.
As for RI recognizing other states open carry licenses as you cite in RIGL § 11-47-8:, I will concede. However, if I see anyone open carrying in RI, I will still call the proper authorities and let them determine if the person has the proper permit to do so in my state.
Society will have gained an important bulwark against the erosion of the Second Amendment. From the founding of this nation through the beginning of the twentieth century, many state constitutions enshrined the right of citizens to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and the state. That’s an important concept – a person’s natural right to self-defense. The Amendment itself implicitly recognizes that it simply codifies a pre-existing right – it does not establish the right, but simply forbids infringing it.
At least he’s referring to a gun he already owns. If you’re looking for irrationality, how about the panic to buy AR-15’s to keep Obama from taking them away? Colt shareholders loved that.
Makes me wonder how often someone pulled over with a gun in their car claims to be on their way to a shooting range. At 2 AM.
Here’s the thing, I do know people who own firearms. Doesn’t bother me one bit. In my line of work, I also come into contact with hunters who are obviously carrying. But it is just a completely different way of life around here. Even seeing long arms out and about is rare, and I don’t mean just in Downtown Providence.
If those guys in the video showed up at a restaurant in RI carrying rifles, I would call the police. Yes, even knowing that open carry of long arms is legal, because it just isn’t done around here. And that behavior is so far outside of the norm around here that I would be concerned for my safety. I would feel the same way as I would about reporting a driver that I thought was operating in an unsafe manner. I am sure you disagree.