Texans scoff at Obama reforms after winning right to flaunt their guns

IT was perhaps the most Texan of New Year’s Day festivities: more than 100 gun supporters gathered on the steps of the State Capitol Building with handguns holstered on their hips to celebrate a new “open carry” law, allowing them to bear weapons in plain sight.

“January 1 is just the jumping point for returning the right to keep and bear arms to Texans after almost 150 years,” said CJ Grisham, president of Open Carry Texas, which pushed for the law and now wants it extended.

The sight of so many weapons in public in Texas – known until now as one of the more restrictive states despite its reputation as cowboy country – is a sign of a wider debate in election year.

Although supporters say open carry laws improve public safety, others fear for a country where guns are viewed as a common feature of everyday life and which only ever seems to be a few days away from the next mass shooting.

President Barack Obama has spoken repeatedly of his frustration at trying to steer tighter legislation through Republican-dominated Congress and is now trying to use his executive powers to force through reforms.

Texas is the latest state to effectively return to 19th-century gun laws – allowing a million individuals who have passed a safety course and who hold a concealed handgun permit to openly carry their weapons for the first time since 1871.

The law allows individual property owners and companies to ban customers or visitors from openly carrying handguns. If businesses opt out, they are required to display a specifically worded sign on their doors.

Many Texas companies, such as H-E-B grocery, the state’s biggest private employer, have said they would continue to allow concealed carrying of firearms, but not open carry.

However, the law specifically

‘There are a lot of guns around me right now, and I don’t feel afraid at all. I think this is the safest place in Texas right now’

bans the carrying of guns – openly or hidden – in a wide variety of places including schools, bars, sports arenas and secure areas of airports.

Diego Bernal, a Democrat who sits in the state legislature and who voted against the bill, said the law was a mistake. “I don’t see how introducing firearms into everyday life makes anything better,” he said.

Supporters of the new law disagree despite guns causing more than 30,000 deaths a year in the United States. Many wore stickers reading “Guns save lives” as they assembled on Friday.

“There are a lot of guns around me right now, and I don’t feel afraid at all,” said one speaker. “I think this is the safest place in Texas right now.”

They want the law to go even further. At present it includes a provision for police officers to inspect the permit of anyone carrying a gun – something Open Carry Texas says would allow harassment of law-abiding citizens, and which it wants dropped.

Meanwhile, Mr Obama is due to meet his attorney general tomorrow to discuss ways of using his presidential powers to reduce gun violence.

He tried to tighten gun control following the 2012 massacre at a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut – where 20 children and six teachers were shot dead – but found his efforts thwarted by Congress.

In a weekly address he said he was now prepared to go it alone.

“A few months ago, I directed my team at the White House to look into any new actions I can take to help reduce gun violence,” he said on Friday. “And on Monday, I’ll meet with our attorney general, Loretta Lynch, to discuss our options.”

Such sentiments have not gone down well in Texas.

Greg Abbott, the state’s Republican governor, said on Twitter: “Obama wants to impose more gun control. My response? COME & TAKE IT.”