TexasCHLforum.com

I was in Texas in 1995 when Texas went to "shall issue" regarding CHL, but didn't pay much attention to it then.

Iowa just changed their carry laws from "may issue" to "shall issue" on January 1, 2011. I have been on the Iowa Firearms Coalition forum watching the reactions of the people when the Sheriff doesn't do what is expected and how many cities, counties and private businesses are gearing up to ban weapons from buildings, parks and cemetaries. Iowa has a preemption law that does not allow cities and counties to trump state law. A lot of the folks on that forum are shocked that cities/counites/businesses are listening to the media's liberal ideas and attempting to ban weapons.

My question is what was the reaction in Texas in 1995 when the CHL law went into effect here? Did "no gun" signs go up in many places? Did the cities/counties also attempt the same type of restrictions on CHLer's? Did the medial here react the same way, spreading the "blood in the streets" and "shootouts on street corners and over parking spots at the mall"?

I know at that time in Texas, any sign showing or saying "no guns" was all that was needed before the 30.06 law in 1997. I believe the same is true in Iowa now with any sign banning weapons.

It's so frustrating seeing people in state after state go through the same process, instead of learning from their neighbor's history.

The Dallas paper reported on the first day that there would be blood running in the streets. Another qote said it was a return to the old west. I carried on the first day(1/1/96).

I remember those articles running in 1995-96 too. I distinctly remember a cartoon that had two pictures one said 1836 and had a man in cowboy hat grabbing a revolver. The second picture said 1996 and had a man grabbing a revolver from a suit. Both pictures were over done, and did not paint Texans in a favorable light. I'm glad all of those predictions were proved wrong.

Congratulations on getting CHL in Iowa.

I tried the search function but could not find a post that had a collection of all of the 1995-1996 editorials, cartoons and end of the world predictions. Maybe we could start a post of them and have a good laugh that they were all proved wrong and that we know peacefully exercise our second amendment rights.

mikeintexas wrote:Did "no gun" signs go up in many places?

Yes, gunbuster and other generic no gun signs were abundant.

The media will always react this way. However, I would expect companies with a national presence to have a shorter learning curve as they should have history in other concealed carry states.

I'm not sure when it was added, but fortunately, Texas cleared a lot of things up and made it better when they added 30.06. It's still not perfect, but folks in other states, even an OC state like Kansas, are envious of us.