Texas has joined 19 other states in no longer requiring a permit to carry a gun. The law taking effect Wednesday means people can now carry a gun in public without a permit or training required.
The law was passed during the state legislature's regular session and signed by Governor Greg Abbott in June.
"You could say I signed into law today some laws that protect gun rights, but today, I signed documents that instilled freedom in the Lone Star State," Abbott said.
At Israeli Combat Shooting in Flower Mound, owner and instructor Bill Mischke says training may no longer be required, but he still encourages training.
"The important thing is, number one, safe handgun handling," he says. "The other category I have a lot of concern about is the legal aspects of carrying a handgun. A lot of people don't realize, if I think I'm being threatened and show my gun as a threat, that actually could be an assault and I could end up in legal trouble."
Israeli Combat Shooting has been teaching license to carry classes. Mischke says people should consider a license to carry class to learn about safe handling of weapons, legal aspects and de-escalation training.
"That should always be your first choice is to try to de-escalate a situation," he says. "That is the type of training people were and still can get in their license to carry classes."
Mischke also teaches more advanced tactical classes.
"We teach people how to actually use their handgun in self-defense situations because the fact is most self-defense situations are not going to occur right in front of you with plenty of time to react and space to move. It's going to come from behind or the side or blind-side you. You're not going to see it coming," he says. "In the tactical handgun classes, we teach people how to use their weapon under stress. We teach them weapon retention, which is understanding how to not lose control of your weapon in an altercation. We teach people how to use their weapon in a way they can defend themselves. That's different than just standing, static, in a lane at the shooting range."
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Mischke says he does not expect a spike in people carrying guns as a result of the law. He says most people who had an interest in carrying a gun were already doing so.
At Crime Stoppers of Houston, Chief Executive Rania Mankarious agrees.
"I think people's convictions and beliefs when it comes to this topic will carry through," she says. "Those who are anti-gun will remain anti-gun. Those who are for-guns will remain for-guns, and those in the middle are going to quietly stay out of the conversation."
Mankarious says police and other first responders are likely thinking about the impact on public safety.
"If you do have more people carrying guns, you have law enforcement arriving on a scene and not knowing who's good and who's bad," she says.
The law does not allow anyone younger than 21 or anyone who has served a felony sentence in the past five years to own a gun. Mankarious says the law also adds some misdemeanors, including assault causing bodily injury, deadly conduct, terroristic threats and disorderly conduct with a firearm.
She says private businesses are also still allowed to ban guns on their premises. Businesses now must post signs in English and Spanish, one each to ban concealed carry, open carry and unlicensed carry.
"That's just something private businesses will have to quickly get to work on," Mankarious says.
"If you're eligible to own a weapon, I would encourage you to do that if you want to do that," says Mischke, with Israeli Combat Shooting in Flower Mound. "I would never want to force someone who didn't want to carry or possess a gun to do that, but I'm a big proponent of people who want to be able to defend themselves to go ahead and do it. But you've got to get the training. Just because the training isn't mandated right now doesn't mean it's a good idea to start carrying a weapon without that training for a lot of reasons, both safety reasons and legal reasons. If you carry your gun in an illegal way, the police officer isn't going to want to hear, 'Well, I didn't know.' I don't think that's going to be a good excuse."
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