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Texas license rules could thwart open carry advocates

Top open carry backers have arrest records

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Open carry advocates Kory Watkins, left, and CJ Grisham have arrests on Class B misdemeanor charges of interfering with the public duties of a peace officer.
Open carry advocates Kory Watkins, left, and CJ Grisham have arrests on Class B misdemeanor charges of interfering with the public duties of a peace officer.Tony Gutierrez/STF

AUSTIN - Two of the most vociferous advocates for open carry in Texas could be left with empty holsters if state lawmakers decide to require a license to strap on an unconcealed handgun.

That is because any Legislature-approved permit or license requirement for open carry likely would be patterned after the state's concealed handgun law, which requires a criminal background check and a clean record.

Both CJ Grisham, founder of Open Carry Texas, and Kory Watkins, who heads Open Carry Tarrant County, have arrests on Class B misdemeanor charges of interfering with the public duties of a peace officer.

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Under state law, anyone convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor is ineligible to carry a concealed handgun for five years; those arrested for similar offenses see their concealed handgun licenses revoked until the issue is settled. Delinquent child support payments, a history of substance abuse or mental health issues also would disqualify some from being eligible for a concealed handgun license.

"The only people who should lose their rights are the ones who abuse those rights," said Grisham, a retired Army sergeant who founded Open Carry Texas.

He called state gun laws "arbitrary," and said Texas is one of the few states that bars its citizens from carrying concealed for "minor offenses."

Watkins said he never would apply for a concealed handgun or any other license, saying "I should not have to ask for permission." He and two other open carry activists were arrested in early September while shadowing and videotaping Arlington police officers. Watkins has been charged with two Class B misdemeanors, and his first court hearing is scheduled for next month.

Grisham was arrested after being stopped by police while out on a hike with his son while carrying an AR-15. He was convicted of interfering with a law officers duties but has appealed.

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Both men contend that the state's requirement that residents pay a fee and obtain a license to carry a concealed weapon amounts to an infringement on Texans' Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Under current law, Texans can tote long arms like rifles or shotguns, but the open carrying of handguns has been illegal for more than 125 years.

"We live in a constitutional republic and what that means is, it doesn't matter what the other side says," Watkins said. "I have a right to bear arms, and it shouldn't be infringed upon."

While several open carry bills have been filed this session, lawmakers appear to be leaning toward licensed open carry rather than so-called "constitutional carry," in which no permit is required.

Some form of open carry has a better chance of passing this year than ever before; two bills already have been fast-tracked in the Senate and Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will sign whatever open carry bill makes it to his desk.

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"Open carry? Probably," Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said. "Constitutional carry? I would say highly unlikely."

Huffman, who chairs the State Affairs Committee that first will consider the open carry bills, said law enforcement officials and constituents have raised concerns about allowing open carry without any restrictions or license requirements.

"It could create some chaos in an ordered society," she said. "I think that we have a process in place that appears to be working."

Jerry Patterson, the former Texas land commissioner and state senator who authored the state's concealed handgun law, agreed.

"I don't think we're going to get unlicensed open carry this session," he said. "This attention has generated so much bad press where people have second thoughts about it."

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The open carry movement garnered statewide headlines in the first week of the session, when both Grisham and Watkins' groups held separate rallies outside of the state Capitol to push unlicensed open carry. The rhetoric on both sides of the debate was ratcheted up when Watkins filmed a confrontation between open carry activists and Rep. Poncho Nevarez in his Capitol office, during which the Eagle Pass Democrat repeatedly asked the group to leave, and they respond by calling him "a tyrant to the Constitution" and telling him he "won't be here very long, bro."

Nevarez now is accompanied by a security detail after he and his family received a slew of threats after the incident, and House lawmakers passed new rules allowing Capitol offices to install panic buttons at the state's expense.

Grisham, who has clashed with Watkins and his group over their tactics, said that if the Legislature fails to pass open carry, he will take the state to court.

"If all we get is a licensed carry bill and nothing changes with how the license is done, I will file a lawsuit with the state basically because the CHL law is unconstitutional," said Grisham, who noted the state Constitution only allows lawmakers to regulate the wearing of arms "with a view to prevent crime."

Patterson demurred.

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"I don't think there's a legitimate case for that," he said. "No right is absolute."

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