In a strange twist of fate, Texas gun owners are now lamenting the implementation of the new open carry laws which went into effect at the start of the New Year.
Though the right-wing gun nuts should be rejoicing, it seems that the increased leniency has backfired, inspiring more businesses to exercise their rights to bar both open carry and concealed weapons. Needing only an official “30.07”sign to ban openly carried weapons and a “30.06” sign to ban concealed weapons, the number of establishments employing these policies have spiked dramatically in the less than two week period since the legislation went into effect, meaning in that in many cases, gun owners are experiencing even more restrictions than before.
Gun lovers took to the world wide web to lament the unexpected turn of events, and popular message boards like the NRA-curated forum TexasCHLForum.com blew up.
“Got an email from work telling us that not only are 30.07 signs going up over the weekend on our office building but 30.06 as well. What makes this even more frustrating is I have yet to see a single open carry,”
posted one user, triggering over 100 replies from similarly disappointed ammosexuals.
“Before the OC [open carry] movement started everything went smooth, now we see more and more 30.06 signs erected,”
The comment section also served as a hotbed for theories surrounding the laws unpredicted effects. Some speculated that the increase in “30.06” postings was due to revisions regarding the signs implementation accompanied the open carry laws. Another theorized, against all evidence, that the backlash was so severe because the opposition must have predicted the response and plotted its passage.
In addition to negative public reaction, NRA board member Charles Cotton wrote:
“I truly wish that open-carry supporters would admit that they were wrong and that there is a problem. If I cannot carry my self-defense handgun into a store because they put up 30.06 and 30.07 signs, then someone’s ability to show their handgun to everyone will have cost me the ability to defend myself.”
The ironic turn of events might be tragic for Texans who prefer to do their grocery shopping with a holstered handgun, but for the rest of us, it’s not hard to see the humor.
