With open carry poised to become the law of the land in Texas, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo has delivered a bizarre doomsday scenario that he says will be the state’s future. He likens open carry to “open season for gang members, drug cartels, outlaw motorcycle gangs …” to sport sidearms in public. He worries about “Klan with their hoods on, [Black] Panthers with their faces covered, ISIS sympathizers …” converging on the state capitol with guns at their sides.
Leaving aside Acevedo’s strange vision of Austin—consistently rated one of the safest major cities in the U.S.—it is a fact that the people who will be allowed to carry openly are the same ones who could legally carry concealed. Perhaps the police chief ought to focus his attention on rooting out criminals and ISIS sympathizers rather than worrying about legally carried firearms being a bit more noticeable.
