I don't want to get anybody riled up or ready to fight. I am posting this as a retired LEO that cares about his brothers and sisters still working and answering calls for service.
The Texas Legislature has dumped a pile of manure on Texas Peace Officers that has the real potential for a disaster. Effective 09/01/2012 anybody can strap on a firearm without benefit of a background check. The problem is that they did not provide us with an ability to stop and check them for felony convictions that make it illegal for them to even possess a firearm. We would be labeled racists profilers and the complaints would flood the station and in this environment you are wrong until you prove yourself right.
Now put yourself in their position, would you risk your job and your ability to support your family along with the Feds crawling all over you with the possibility of a civil rights indictment? I know because I was there a while ago.
I only ask that law biding citizens understand what we are dealing with and support your local police.
If I understand the OP, the concern is that the police won't be able to detain people exercising a constitutional right absent individualized suspicion of criminal wrongdoing. Doesn't bother me a bit.
I see both sides of the issue.
I agree that people should never be stopped and questioned unless the officer has probable cause for a stop. I am also morally, ethically and professionally opposed to the officers I have observed over the years who will follow someone until they find probable cause.
Follow someone for 4-5 minutes and you’ll make them nervous enough that they’ll do something that creates probable cause. But that kind of policing is counterproductive and pits the police against the citizens they are supposed to serve and protect.
On the other hand I firmly support background checks for *ALL* firearm sales and in particular for handgun sales. One of the local gun shops in the area will do a NICS check for a private sale. Both parties come in and they do the check on the buyer. It also provides a safe place for the actual transaction to occur. The fee is a nominal $5.
The recent change in the 4473 has made it more burdensome as they have moved the old section “D” to section “A” requiring the firearm information to be completed before the buyer’s information and statements. That means they now have to log the gun in and then back out, increasing the workload just to do a background check.
But that’s a simple legislative fix and I’d fully support required background checks on all sales, provided it is done at nominal cost to the buyer and seller, rather than as a $25 to $50 transfer.
I’m also a a big fan of concealed carry permits. The data in several states (including Texas) is very clear. Law enforcement officers are much less likely to commit crimes than the general public. A study by Police Quarterly found the crime rate for all felonies and misdemeanors committed police officers was 102 per 100,000, compared to 3816 per 100,000 for the general public (2006 data).
However, concealed carry permit holders had rates of just 10.4 per 100,000 in Florida and 11.5 per 100,000 in TX (2018 data). Combining those two shows that concealed carry permit holders are 6 times less likely to commit crimes than *police officers*. An officer stopping someone with a concealed carry permit needs to understand that he or she is significantly *safer* than they would be stopping another officer.
Comparing concealed carry permit holders to the general public, they are a whopping 348 times less likely to commit a felony or misdemeanor than the general public.
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In short, my issue with Constitutional Carry is you really are saying “everybody” can open carry. Now...that’s a slight exaggeration as prohibited individuals still cannot carry (legally).
But in a state where private sales with no background check are legal and where officers cannot question a person open carrying without probable cause, you cannot practically prevent prohibited individuals from carrying or enforce it in any way other than after a crime has been committed. That’s a recipe for a future disaster leading to future knee jerk control and really isn’t in our long term best interests.
On the plus side, my understanding is that the Texas HB1927 has struck the provision preventing officers from questioning people open carrying who they suspect might be prohibited individuals.
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However, I’d much rather see a streamlined process for concealed carry permits where the individuals are still vetted via a background check.
