According to the New York Times:
"Texas has quietly reached a milestone: More than a million residents now have handgun licenses, one of the biggest citizenries in the country authorized to carry concealed and unconcealed firearms." Some are surprised that the streets are not flowing with blood. Only Florida has more licensees.
"In January, a law took effect giving those with concealed-weapon permits the option of openly carrying their firearm in a shoulder or hip holster. But in the months since, few have embraced so-called open carry."
Again, there was much moaning, groaning and gnashing of teeth. Here in Dallas I have not seen a single person openly carrying. In the gun shop I visited, only the clerks were seen carrying openly. I've seen only two businesses with no open carry signs. A used book store and a gym.
"The one million are made up of 268,200 women and 749,418 men, according to the Department of Public Safety. . . .The Texas Legislature passed the concealed-handgun law in 1995, and it took effect the next year. Gun-rights advocates like to point out that the Legislature at the time was not majority Republican, as it is now, but majority Democrat. In December 1996, there were 113,640 people with active licenses. Over the span of nearly 20 years, roughly 904,000 would be added to the gun-license rolls."
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