It is legal in Texas for a woman to swim topless at the beach at night. Does that make it a good idea?
Case law has ruled that it's entirely legal for women to walk around topless in public in Texas. Thank goodness women employ common sense (and modesty) because the results would not be good. Now if "open carry" was to pass, and they chose to walk around topless with a handgun in plain view, they might be OK.
Back to the situation concerning this thread; it really doesn't matter whether it's Terrell or Dallas - a person should be able to go where they want, when they want. However, one needs to be aware of the consequences of their actions. To do so without being properly prepared, along with being willing to suffer the consequences, is their responsibility. There are apartment complexes and housing projects in Dallas that aren't really safe to be wandering around in at any time of the day but people do so. Most of the time nothing happens but on a regular basis something does - that's just the chance one takes.
I'm a huge proponent of trying to get people to watch the outdoor predator (lions, big cats or hyenas, dingos or wild dogs) documentaries on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Animal Kingdom, etc. to better understand the behavior of criminals. A hunting lion pride, pack of hyenas, or wild dog pack is very similar to a group of thugs while a tiger, cheetah, or leopard is just like the lone criminal stalking his prey. Large groups of prey move through this environment and the vast majority stay safe while there are always a few that become "victims". These documentaries seem to always do a good job of setting up the ambush by showing what the predators are doing and what the prey is doing and one can usually see the outcome well in advance to it happening. Sometimes the prey gets lucky and dodges left when the predator predicted a move to the right. That is the exception rather than the rule. If a predator does that too many times Darwin takes over and that gene pool is cleaned out.
Now take those same scenarios and apply them to the environments where we travel about and you can see it play out the same just on a different scale. The man that went walking in the park is not much different than an animal feeding at night in Africa. You should assume that there are predators about and your life is in constant danger. The difference in this case is that the prey was able to be armed and could take measures to protect himself. That being said he was still lucky as even though he shot one thug the others could have still hurt or killed him if they would have been so inclined or prepared to do so. Even a large and dangerous Water Buffalo can take out one or two lions attacking him but if the pride forces the encounter the odds are good that he will eventually go down unless some others from his herd come to help him.
Unfortunately, for every one person that knows and prepares for the dangerous world that we live in there are 10 or more that don't do so. They are either clueless as to what lies around them or they're in denial that it could ever happen to them. They believe that the rules of society, laws, police, guardian angel or something will look out for them, and thank goodness in most cases it does, but I believe it's always better to "hope for the best while you prepare for the worst".
Be grateful that we have the ability in Texas (and most states) to carry a handgun so that we can protect ourselves and our families. Take care, stay safe and watch out for the wildlife.
