As of January 1, “passengers will be allowed to openly carry holstered guns on METRO buses and light rails if they have a permit,” khou.com reports. “METRO Police Chief Vera Bumpers [sic] says light rail and bus operators are being trained not to ask passengers if they have a permit. If an operator or passenger notices someone acting suspicious, operators will have to call METRO Police.” And then . . .
“They can call and we will come out and the officer will then ask a person if they have a permit to openly carry. We will verify they have a license with their ID,” Bumpers said. According to Texas’ new open carry law, police have the right to ask gun owners to show their permit without probable cause that a crime has been committed. Exactly how police will perform this “stop and frisk ID” is unknown. Good luck with that.
Meanwhile, the assault media mavens at KHOU felt obliged to insert this bit in the text: “Several light rail passengers told KHOU 11 News they are concerned about people openly carrying weapons on public buses and trains.”
Strangely, the video report [click on the link above] starts with the usual “wild, wild west” open carry diss, adds another concerned citizen’s objections and ends with the same worried gentleman who started the piece. And doesn’t include any vox populi from people who will carry on a bus or train, or feel safer with open carriers on public transport. [h/t KL]
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