As of Jan. 1, concealed handgun license holders statewide are no longer required to carry their handguns out of sight. Texas lawmakers decided in the 2015 legislative session that handgun license holders should be allowed to carry a handgun concealed or openly—in a shoulder holster or belt holster—in public and into any business unless a sign prohibiting open or concealed carry is posted.

License holders still cannot carry guns, either openly or concealed, on school district properties during school functions nor in courtrooms, secure airport areas, polling places or any business that receives at least 51 percent of its revenue from on-premise alcohol consumption.

The law also prohibits open or concealed carry on college campuses—at least until Aug. 1 when a controversial law allows concealed carry at public universities.

Local government officials can still, however, prohibit license holders from carrying at an open meeting as long as proper notice is given.

Local changes

At the Jan. 5 Colleyville City Council meeting, City Council adopted a resolution to prohibit the open carrying of handguns into open meetings.

“The Colleyville City Council felt it best for the city and open meetings if we exercised our right as outlined in the law to prohibit open carry from open meetings,” Colleyville Mayor David Kelly said. “These restrictions are in place in our municipal courtroom, and it simply made sense to extend the provision to all our public meetings. Other cities, including Dallas and Fort Worth, have similar regulations.”

Colleyville Police Chief Michael Holder said although a lot of the public meetings are held in City Hall, the resolution also applies to any building that has a public meeting.

“If we have an open meeting at the library, such as the library board meeting or the parks [and recreation] board [meeting], someone would not be allowed to open carry into those meetings,” he said. “However, if a citizen was going to pay their water bill they could open carry into City Hall.”

Neighboring cities such as Grapevine and Southlake have not prohibited open carry at  public meetings. Officials from both cities said as of now it is not on either council’s agendas.

Effects of law unseen

Police staff in Grapevine, Colleyville and Southlake said they have not received a single call and do not know of any issues pertaining to open carry since the law passed.

“The concern that I thought we would have—especially in the early stages—is people becoming alarmed if they are out grocery shopping or something like that and they see [someone open-carrying] and they aren’t used to seeing it and they are maybe not aware of the law changes,” Holder said. “So we were anticipating some calls from some alarmed citizens, but we haven’t seen that. And honestly I haven’t seen a single person open-carrying since the law took effect.”

Holder said if a call does come in, his department has been trained on how to react.

He said in the past a phone call from a citizen stating that a person has a gun would cause an officer to typically get in the mind frame that the carrier means harm.

“[Officers] have now got to consider that this could now just be a very responsible citizen following the law that is allowed by the state and not meaning to cause any harm,” he said. “So they have to be mindful that a person with a gun call may not mean what it has meant in the past.”

Robert Eberling, Grapevine Police Department public information officer, said although there have been no issues, the department will continue to be alert.

“We will always be vigilant,” he said. “However, I don’t foresee us having any future concerns concerning that law.”

License requirements

Mark Lessor, owner of Southlake CHL, which offers Texas License to Carry classes, said he has seen an influx in the number of people who want to get licensed and learn more about open carry.

“In the past we typically held around two to three classes a month,” he said. “However, in December and January we had a substantial amount of people who signed up to take classes that we had to have them almost daily. The new law was certainly one of the factors that contributed to the increase.”

Lessor said the process of obtaining a license is not easy and he thinks Texas requirements for a license are more rigorous than most states.

Topics covered in the course include the laws that relate to weapons and to the use of deadly force; handgun use, proficiency and safety, including use of restraint holsters and methods to ensure the secure carrying of an openly carried handgun; and nonviolent dispute resolution. A written test is required, and range qualifications are also tested. The student must submit an online application to the state, get fingerprinted and pass a background check before a license is granted.

“I think that people are also taking classes to just learn the changes,” Lessor said. “I always encourage people to continue to seek out training and education.”

Opting out

Restaurant owners whose establishments have 50 percent or below in alcohol sales may choose to opt out of serving open or concealed licensed handgun holders.

The law extends to grocery stores as well.

Grocery chains such as Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, Costco and Whole Foods Market have banned open carry, but others such as Kroger have not.

Also, in August, universities will have an option to prohibit concealed handguns on campus.

However, many local universities, including Dallas Baptist University Hurst-Colleyville, have not yet made a decision.

“We currently have not made a decision concerning the campus-carry law on the DBU campus,” said Blake Killingsworth, vice president for communications for Dallas Baptist University. “A decision in regard to this will be made later in the spring.”