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mgood wrote:There are some who would call the police if you were inside your house or apartment if the blinds were open and you were in there with a gun.

Do your remember the guy who was naked in his own kitchen and a lady who was TRESPASSING in his yard saw him and called the LEOs? He wasn't by a window and wasn't making any gestures or anything. He had a heck of time getting out of it.

There are folks who seem to having nothing better to do than to call 911. If the luck of the draw is that you get an overzealous LEO, you could be taking a ride with the silver bracelets on.

I'm big on the element of surprise and not wanting my neighbors to know what I've got, especially in an apartment situation. If for no other reason that to not tempt an otherwise honest citizen to visit your apartment when you are not there, I'd make sure that there was not gun visible at any time. But that is probably just me.

I open carry in the front yard of the house I rent every day. Why? Because I can. As long as I live there it's my yard. I clean my guns on my front porch too. Mostly because my girlfriend doesn't like the smell of the cleaning solvent.

I enjoy being outside. It's freaking hot outside. I'm not going to wear extra clothing just to keep my gun hidden when I don't have to.

tbrown wrote: More importantly, if a holstered handgun was calculated to alarm, then the cops would be arresting every armed security guard, including armored car personnel, and then start arresting each other until there was only one cop left open carrying in Texas.

Personally I've had a similar situation to this happen however I was not arrested, I was merely detained for close to 2 hours and threatened with having charges for brandishing filed...I was in my apartment parking lot in a direct route from my vehicle to my apartment at 3am after getting off work as an armed security officer. Just so happens that the "patrol" officer from another security company called the cops.

Several sherriff deputies arrived and spent about 2 hours questioning me in the parking lot and eventually I was allowed to go back into my apartment with no arrest or charges filed.
Lets just say the property management threatened me with eviction for violating my lease clause concerning "display of a firearm" should it happen again. So now I change clothes after work and carry concealed as to not violate that clause of my lease.

So word of advice just don't sit on your patio or balcony open carrying however I am not a lawyer.

Legally, you would be fine by the letter of the law since a balcony that you have exclusive use of would be considered premises under your control.

Practically you may have an issue since Texans are known to be allergic to firearms visibly carried by someone not in uniform.

dubya wrote:Why would you want to open carry even on your patio?
Much of the benefit of being armed whether it's a firearm or a club is the element of surprise.
I can see it out hunting or fishing but open carry around the general public is fishing for trouble.

The benefit I can see is deterring the criminal element in the community from targeting you. But yea, someone will likely call the police; and there might be fine print in the lease about weapons too.

hirundo82 wrote:Practically you may have an issue since Texans are known to be allergic to firearms visibly carried by someone not in uniform.

Neo-Texans are allergic to firearms in general. Opposition to civil rights at college showed that clearly.