The legal, open (visible) carry of a handgun in public is something that was unimaginable 20 years ago. For that matter, legal concealed carry was a rarity. Slowly, over those years, the public came to accept the Constitutional right of Americans to self-defense, including away from home. Concealed carry is now legal in all 50 states, although nearly impossible in NY, NJ, CA, and IL. For those of us in "real America", it is easier than getting a driver's license, if you don't have a criminal record.
Also slowly, and under the radar, states have started allowing Open Carry, and 44 states have passed laws in that regard. The national media doesn't like to talk about it, so it is only carried on local news, and only while it is new. Most states piggy-back this feature on to concealed carry licenses, so there is still some requirement to demonstrate firearm skills, but a few states actually have what is called "Constitutional Carry", where no license at all is required.
Texas has always been a "gun-friendly" state, so it seemed odd that we were not one of the first 10 to allow this, never mind 45th. However, the stars have now aligned, and Open Carry has passed both the House and Senate, and ill go to the Governor as soon as the Conference Committee resolves a few differences in the two versions of the bill. There was contentious debate on whether this would be passed as "unlicensed open carry" (Constitutional) or licensed, but licensed carried the day. As it turns out, unlicensed carry was being pushed by an activist who had lost his concealed carry license due to a criminal conviction.
At this date, it is not known when Open Carry will become the law, but it will probably be Jan 1, 2016. I don't actually expect a lot of people to OC, but I do expect some controversy about it, at first. That will go away when there are no mass killings in schools. It is an interesting paradigm, though. I was in Virginia last year, and saw a young man come into the museum I was visiting, with his two young nieces, with a 1911 strapped to his waist. No one paid any attention.
One issue that was debated briefly, and dismissed, was retention. A retention holster is one that does not allow the gun to be withdrawn without releasing it. These can have either one or two points of retention, where usually one could be a strap that has to be unsnapped, and another could be a pressure point that has to be pressed to release the gun. The purpose is to make it difficult for someone to come up behind the wearer and grab the gun. Police always use at least 1-point retention holsters, and sometimes 2-point, depending on department policy. Legally speaking, that is a good practice, but in reality, it is harder than you think to grab a gun from a holster. Any holster will have a certain amount of "grab", anyway, and many OWB ("Outside the Waistband") holsters are built with a 15 degree forward cant ("FBI cant"). This makes it easier for the wearer to access the gun, and also harder for someone behind him. Statistics show that, in the other 44 states, this has not been an issue, so no one requires a retention holster for civilian use.
The new Texas law will simply amend existing law to allow anyone with a Concealed Handgun License to choose whether to carry concealed, or in plain sight.
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