Texas Governor-Elect Will Sign Open Carry Into Law. Will Open Carry Groups Fade Away?

Governor-elect of Texas Greg Abbott says that he will sign legislation legalizing the open carry of holstered handguns just as soon as legislators can get him a bill:

Attorney General Greg Abbottaffirmed his support for allowing Texans to openly carry handguns at his first press conference after being elected governor.

“Throughout the campaign I announced my support for open carry in Texas,” said Abbott when asked about the issue at the Texas Capitol.

Texas is one of just a handful of states that doesn’t allow the open carry of holstered handguns, which even many “anti-gun” states in the northeast allow.

The inability to open carry handguns inspire the creation of a number of open carry gun rights groups in Texas. Several of these groups adopted the highly counter-productive tactic of open carrying long guns into retail establishments, giving foundering gun control group Moms Demand Action a cause to rally against.

Moms Demand—which is primarily a social media/advertising campaign with little real-world interest or participation—used pictures posted to social media by these open carry groups to stage protest campaigns against several retail chains and expand their base of support.

The gun prohibitionist group has won no policy changes resulting in retail chains posting signs against the carry of firearms, but has found new life in due to retail chains like Target and Starbucks issuing lip service press releases that the group has spun into “victories.”

The nation’s largest grocery store chain and second-largest retailer, Kroger Corporation, has become the latest target of the Mom’s Demand Attention social media campaign.

Moms Demand used a year-old Open Carry Texas Facebook post as the excuse to kick off their campaign.

Fortunately, Kroger has reasonably concluded that retail establishments should not be used as the battleground for political causes, as has refused to be drawn into the Bloomberg gun group’s antics. They have maintained that their job is to sell groceries, and that it is the jobs of local, state, and federal governments to pass firearms policy.

Now that handgun open carry seems assured in Texas, many Second Amendment supporters are hopeful that, with the mission of these groups accomplished (perhaps even despite the groups), that these groups will fade away.

Source: Bearing Arms