As of Jan. 1, open carry of firearms was ruled legal in Texas. The open carry law in Texas is unnecessary as it heightens the possibility of increased violence, open carrying achieves nothing more than concealed carry does and there’s not a necessity to open carry a weapon.
Open carrying stands too much of a risk because of the possibility of heightened violence rather than decreased violence. It is too easy for the public to buy and openly carry a firearm, and quite frankly, some of those people in possession of a firearm abuse their privileges. A heavy night of drinking and bad judgement could easily result in an unnecessary death thanks to the increased accessibility to weapons that are not concealed but rather clipped on the outside of the belt.
There is no reason to open carry especially if concealed carrying a weapon yields the same amount of protection. If open carrying a weapon can achieve the same effect as a concealed weapon can, having it visible does not change improve it. Concealed or openly carried, guns still shoot bullets. Having a gun on your belt doesn’t mean it can do anything extra.
As a nation, paranoia and fear play a huge part in our day to day lives. There is an assumed threat of a mass shooting occurring randomly that most Americans seem to have, especially to those who feel the need to purchase firearms in order to protect themselves against firearms. The number of mass shootings stopped by armed citizens has been zero for 33 years.
Although some say possessing a firearm ensures safety, states with higher gun ownership have higher gun related deaths. One percent of gun owning Americans have used their personal guns to protect themselves while more than half have used their guns to escalate arguments. More people are killed in arguments ending in gunfire than those who use their guns for stopping crime.
Just because the open carry law is now legal in Texas does not mean that there should be a mass trend of wearing guns for all to see. Decrease the chances of unnecessary deaths and the continuous loop of violence that guns cause by not carrying a gun at all. Carrying a gun openly in public is entirely unnecessary and can lead to more problems than actually solving them.
Jose Cadena • Mar 2, 2017 at 11:05 am
The article covers an interesting issue, but the way is written is mediocre and non satisfactory, I do not see stable numbers that make me feel convinced, although I agree with you in the issue, and you sound passional. But you sound biases and with mixed feelings.
Jose Cadena • Mar 2, 2017 at 10:57 am
Indeed, there are more deaths, however you have to look at deaths over population, a town with 5,000 will have, without doubt, less deaths than a city which has 1.5 million. I think this is an excellent article from the guardian that gives specific stats about the gun violence. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/jan/09/special-report-fixing-gun-violence-in-america
Sawyer Cantrell • Sep 27, 2016 at 9:13 am
Yeah Chicago is a great example of that.
Wilson Trimble • Sep 21, 2016 at 11:51 am
Where did you get your facts from? Because last time I check gun free cities are way more violent than other places in the US.