I’m not Coming Around Here No More!

Now that the New Year has come and gone, the news and controversy about Open Carry is riding off into the west, at least with the mainstream media, of course, social media is another issue. My Facebook page is filled with "Boycott these places” post from Open Carry and how “Joe Gunslinger” is not going to eat at the Stuff and Bust Buffett because they just posted a PC 30.06 and/or 30.07 sign (handguns prohibited).

Not only am I a proud cop, but I am a proud license to carry holder and a strong supporter of our 2^nd Amendment, yet I still respect the right of a business who wish to not let people carry. First of all, let us talk about liability. Putting myself in the shoes of a business owner, I’m not sure I would want a room full of people carrying guns, especially in restaurants where alcohol is served (remember, in Texas, if sales are less than 51% of alcohol, then you can bring a weapon onto the premises, unless proper signage is posted). Believe it or not, people do get drunk at family restaurants and they have been known to do stupid things, just ask any waiter or waitress who have worked at these restaurants for any length of time, throw a gun into the mix and see what can happen.

The next issue is training. As a police firearms and tactics instructor, I have found that a majority of license to carry holders have only fired their pistol once, and that was at the License to Carry course. I have offered free courses to people who just obtained their license, only to be told, “Oh, that sounds great, but you want me to spend 4-6 hours on a range and spend $60 to $75 on a couple of hundred rounds of ammo so I can learn some practical shooting skills? Uh, I will get back with you!” This, my friends, is what scares me about that particular majority of license holders.

Ok, now I am sure there are those of you who are saying, “Well, I am an expert shooter! When I qualify I shoot 100%.” Well, I’m proud that you are such a marksman! It takes great skill to stand stationary and shoot a “timed” course of fire that doesn’t really put that much stress on you. Do you really want to better judge yourself on your shooting skills? Then try this the next time you are at a range with a qualified instructor and range master/safety officer. Get your heart rate up to around 150-170 beats per minute by doing some cardio. Engage “shoot-don’t-shoot” targets that someone has randomly placed on the range (preferably bunched up into a group), oh, and your time limit is 3 seconds. Make sure you throw in some “good guys” that have guns too and try to decide who is a legitimate threat and who is not. Better yet, go to some of the schools that are out there that offer Force-on-Force training where you get put in scenarios and actually shoot (and get shot at) with simmunition rounds. Being in these scenarios, both in real life and in the training field, I will attest that tunnel vision kicks in, loss of hearing (auditory exclusion) is experienced, and your fine motor skills go to crap!

So, ask yourself, do you want to have 20 people carrying guns in a family environment, and out of those 20, only one or two have been trained properly? What happens when everyone pulls out their gun and nobody knows who the bad guy is and people start wildly shooting with no regard to who is behind the target if they miss?!? I can see things not going too well. Now, I will admit this scenario may be a bit far-fetched, but to a business owner, this very thing may be going through their mind, after all, they are the ones that will have to face the law suites and insurance settlements, correct? Like I said though, this is a far-fetched scenario that could never happen at a restaurant in the Waco area, right?

I know what some of you are thinking! Well, you are a cop and can carry your gun anywhere in Texas. While it is true that Peace Officers are generally exempt and allowed to carry into places that normally prohibit firearms, even off duty, a business can still refuse them entry or service if they know they are carrying. Technically speaking, a business can prohibit an on-duty officer entry into their establishment if they so choose as long as the officer isn’t there in official capacity, just as you can tell a police officer they are not allowed into your own home or property without a warrant!

For those of you reading this that are trained and proficient with your weapons, I say hats off to you! Working by myself as a cop, I would welcome a responsible and trained armed citizen to come to my aid, just as I would come to theirs. Talk to others and encourage them to train more as it is the fear of the unknown that make people uncomfortable.

Finally, please stop jumping up and down screaming at the top of your lungs and continually posting on Facebook about how we all need to stop going to one business or another because they won’t let you carry your gun! This is where the old saying, “It takes one to screw it up for all of us!” Be professional in what you do! Politely talk to owners and managers of these establishments and ask why they are choosing not to allow people to carry, it may be a simple matter of misinformation. When I’m carrying and I come to business that doesn’t want me to carry, I can (and usually will) go the other direction as I will not leave my pistol in the car for it to get stolen.