Open Carry Starts New Year's Day
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GRAND PRAIRIE (CBS11) - Police departments in North Texas are preparing for an increased number of 911 calls from folks not accustomed to seeing others openly carry firearms.
Texas' open carry law goes into effect on January 1st. It will allow license holders to carry their weapons in a belt or shoulder holster, in plain view.
On Wednesday night, Grand Prairie's Police Chief addressed the questions and concerns of a room full of citizens. So many people attended, that there was an overflow area.
"Dropping children off at school, in public places on the sidewalk, can you open carry there?," were just some of the situations Teresa Williams, was curious about.
Williams, who has a concealed handgun license says she attended the meeting to make sure she was in compliance.
Many of the questions residents had dealt with possible gray areas.
"You can never write a law that answers every question so there's going to probably be some case law that comes out of this," said Police Chief Steve Dye.
The department has been training officers on how to respond to the new law for weeks.
"What we're trying to do is emphasize the balance between keeping everyone safe and respecting the lawful rights of those who wish to openly carry," said Chief Dye.
At Shoot Smart Indoor Range and Training Center in Grand Prairie, business is booming. Tis' the season for it.
Strategic Operations Manager Jared Sloan says this holiday season, customers have had a lot of questions about Texas' open carry law. But he doesn't expect a big change in customer preferences come Friday.
"I think people will continue to conceal carry at least predominantly because they're just not interested in advertising that they're carrying firearms," says Sloan.
Rafael Pacheco, who has a concealed handgun license is one of them, though he supports open carry.
"I think it will be like anything else, once they get adjusted or used to seeing people carry it should be like wearing a hat," he explained.
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