Legality of Openly carrying around a NON handgun (shotgun/rifle)

Sec. 21-16. Carrying loaded rifle or shotgun.
It shall be unlawful for any person, other than duly authorized peace officers, to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun on any public street within the city or in a motor vehicle while the same is being operated on any public street within the city.
(Code 1959, § 26-28)
Cross references: Regulation of firearms and weapons, § 21-151 et seq.

It's in a different section.
 
Seems San Antonio is getting more liberal all the time with their weapon laws. I was told at Collectors Firearms in Houston that while carrying a pocket knife (the large kind that locks open and won't close when too much pressure is applied) in other parts of Texas is perfectly legal, in San Antonio it is very much illegal. Reason being is that such a knife can penetrate bullet proof vest which means anyone carrying one must be out to kill police :rolleyes:
 
As it has been said before, this will vary state by state or municipality. Here the law does not prohibit the carrying of a loaded or unloaded long gun on your person or in your vehicle. A trip to your hotel room may not raise an eyebrow. Take a stroll through the local mall with an 870 or AR slung over the shoulder and you're probably looking at a disorderly conduct charge.
 
The San Antonio laws are to target gangmember who carry such. The long arm ordinance was for gangmembers who bought cheap SKSs as the rifle of choice and drove around with them. Similar on the knives. Thus, the law on a simple stop could arrest them.

The long arm rule is probably against state law. However, if you call the SAPD they will tell you it is the law in town - thus, one can be the test case.

Every sporting goods outlet in town sell such knives and you can see them in pockets everywhere.

I think by now most agree that casing long arms is the way to go unless you are specifically at a hunting or sporting outlet - or walking right from your car to the house or room.

I sugges that if one decides to stroll through the Galleria in Houston, dress as a Goth and toting a 870 - you might have an interesting day. Some guy from the Internet might ventilate you.
 
The San Antonio laws are to target gangmember who carry such. The long arm ordinance was for gangmembers who bought cheap SKSs as the rifle of choice and drove around with them. Similar on the knives. Thus, the law on a simple stop could arrest them.

The long arm rule is probably against state law. However, if you call the SAPD they will tell you it is the law in town - thus, one can be the test case.

Every sporting goods outlet in town sell such knives and you can see them in pockets everywhere.
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The road to tyranny is paved with good intentions. As we see all the time, all these weapon control laws are desgined to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals, but they end up violating the rights of people like you and me.

I think by now most agree that casing long arms is the way to go unless you are specifically at a hunting or sporting outlet - or walking right from your car to the house or room.
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Right, like I said, most of the hotels I'm staying in are in rural areas. And a lot of them are from car to room (motels). The most I would have to walk is through the hallway of a Holiday Inn Express in Lufkin or Crockett.
We're not talking about walking through the lobby and bar up to my room in the Hyatt Regency in Houston :D

I sugges that if one decides to stroll through the Galleria in Houston, dress as a Goth and toting a 870 - you might have an interesting day. Some guy from the Internet might ventilate you.
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Dressed in goth, with an 870 shotgun. With sunglasses :cool: Interesting day. You mean like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcSQzFEFqu8
 
this is becoming the terminator thread. Anybody else notice 1 minute 33 seconds into the link the terminator fires two 3 round bursts out of the shotty.

that clip is a great example of why you should not be able to openly carry a long gun. and whatever kind of car he drives through the wall, that should be illegal too. can't we all just drive hybrids guys;)
 
If someone wants to give up their Prius as it marks them as a wussy socialist, I would be glad to take it off their hands for free!

At a recent IDPA match, someone drove up in a new subcompact and folks gathered around to ask about it. My beater Civic is still giving me 35 mpg and happily goes to the match or the Hill Country for relative peanuts as compared to my buddies' monster trucks. :D
 
this is becoming the terminator thread. Anybody else notice 1 minute 33 seconds into the link the terminator fires two 3 round bursts out of the shotty
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YES! HAHA! He did that several times....with one hand too:eek: :rolleyes: (I guess that could have been a semi auto shotgun...and I guess since he was a cyborg with super human grip...he could have held on to his gun but...okay we are thinking way too much about his :D ) Reminds me of Kevin Costner in Untouchables shooting that guy through the window with the shotgun extended with one hand :rolleyes:

Anyway, to try to move this thread back on topic (I think I was the one that kinda got it side tracked). In Texas (S&E San Antonio...unless I want to be a test case) and Louisiana carry of long guns in car is perfectly legal. Carrying openly, obviously, has to be taken with the situation and surroundings even if legal. Obviously carrying in a rifle zip bag is the thing to do when a lot of people are around in an effeminant yuppieized urban area. Hotel to car within a few steps shouldn't be an issue.
 
Obviously carrying in a rifle zip bag is the thing to do when a lot of people are around in an effeminant yuppieized urban area.
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Doug, Doug...

imagine yourself in a parking lot and some guy has a shotgun held in both hands. You can't tell if it's loaded or not. You don't know the guy.

What would you, yourself, do? Go from yellow to orange, or orange to red? 1 hand on concealed pistol? Call police? Notify local hotel security or administration?

You're definitely heightening your awareness of him though. I can guarantee that.

And so will everyone else who sees that guy with the bare shottie.

It's not "effeminate, yuppie-ized" to heighten your own awareness to a live shotgun in a person's hands in your viscinity, is it? It's self preservation with folks you don't know and don't have an alibi to be holding the gun live in the first place... Not hunting, no gunrange present, no tyranous JBT's around wiping up the blood of their murderous rampages with rolls of Bounty with the Constitution printed on them... what's he doing with a long gun out of the case in an urban environment?
 
depending on the context, I might. If, for example, I am sitting in the mall having a hot dog and a guy walks in with a shotgun in both hands, that is going to raise my eyebrows to say the least. If on the other hand I am parked in an apartment complex or residential area and I see a guy get out of his car take a shotgun out of the back seat or off the front console and walk down the sidewalk or driveway in a casual, but non-hostile manner, towards some apt. or house then I won't probably won't be too concerned. Or if I am in downtown Houston and while walking through a parking lot I see an average man open his trunk and take out a shotgun and walk over to his friends car a couple of yards away and put it in his backseat rack or something as they chat, then no that won't scare me.

The point is, the site of a gun alone does not make me wet my pants unlike some in our modern urban effeminate culture. Gun = bad is not how I think. You take everything into account, the way the person carries themselves, the way they are dressed, their facial expression, where they are walking etc..

Let me put this in a way that might make a little more sense. In Arizona or some other open carry state, does it alarm people there that some non-LEO walks into a public place with a sidearm on openly? No. Because they aren't afriad of guns per se. Ideally, the rest of us shouldn't be either. Seeing a gun on somebody should be no different than seeing them drive a car or wear a cell phone.
 
imagine yourself in a parking lot and some guy has a shotgun held in both hands. You can't tell if it's loaded or not. You don't know the guy.
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A parking lot is a fairly neutral area where there might be various reasons why a person has a long gun. Let's use the scenario he gives us in his initial post.

Imagine yourself as a hotel clerk behind the counter of a hotel. The door opens and you see a man walking in with an uncased shotgun.

What would you do?

Umm, excuse me sir, are you going to rob or assault me, or do you just like to carry around an uncased long gun to watch people's reactions? :rolleyes:

This isn't about non-gunny people and how they'd react, it's about common sense. If you go walking into people's places of business with an uncased, long gun (or an unholstered pistol), you are NOT going to get positive responses. Try it at a gun shop if you think this is truly an issue that only affects people who aren't used to guns.
 
Let's use the scenario he gives us in his initial post.

Imagine yourself as a hotel clerk behind the counter of a hotel. The door opens and you see a man walking in with an uncased shotgun.
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Let me clarify something. I say hotel and many in here seem to envision the a front desk and lobby like the Hyatt Regency. No. I am mostly talking about inns that are what used to be called motels. You park in front of your room. The only time I would have to go indoors with it is say at a Holiday Inn express and I probably wouldn't go through the lobby, I'd go through the glass door on the side of the building closest to my room.
Even if, in these cases you did come into contact with a desk clerk or manager, they are going to know who you are and that you are a guest. For one thing, I stay in these hotels for weeks and sometimes years (I've been in Marshall since last October), but even if it is the first night, you will have already checked in, chatted with the staff, signed in and they will recognize you are a guest. It will look like you are unpacking your car (probably have a suit case or suit bag in your other hand) than it would walking in and robbing the place.
 
Laws vary from state to state. You'll need to check in your jurisdiction. Here in MA, your long gun must be cased and unloaded when transported.
 
I would pay to see this. I took my family to a high end San Antonio hotel for a holiday dinner (and paid as much as a good new revolver :eek:). Under my dress up clothes was significant equipment - a semi, a bug, the knives, the OC, the cell phone, the Surefire. All concealed.

As we eating a red fish with morel sauce, rack of lamb with mushroom risotto, etc. with a fine bottle of wine, by the restaurant strolls a guy with a naked pump shotgun. Now, I know it is Doug, but no one else does. I sip my wine and watch the fun. I would have liked to see the debutante dressed young ladies - dowagers in furs - tough guy old daddies - scuttle in panic.

Anyway, I've stayed in the boonie motels and I bag the long arm but have a concealed handgun for obvious reasons. If you were going to your room from the outside, you might just carry it.

The reason for having it uncovered in the car is for quicker access. But if you have to stop to get it - is the unbagging significant? It might be when you are in the country and see that great turkey during season.
 
This thread is more about displaying poor, immature judgment than that of legalities.
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Bravo!

I see someone walking down the street with an AR or tacticool 870 Im callin the cops.

And if I do it, hope they call em on me.

WildinthecityofcourseAlaska
 
One day, a couple or three years ago, my son was home on leave. He had just bought a new hunting rifle and a scope. He walked across our little town to our gun dealer to have him bore sight the scope. Gun was slung over his shoulder.

On his way back to home, some little lady called the cops about "a man with a gun."

Long story short. The responding officer got chewed out by the dealer, who is a retired Idaho State Trooper, for harassing a citizen in an open carry state. My son still smiles about this...

Nowadays, the 911 operator will ask the caller if the subject is playing with the firearm or in any manner threatening anyone with it. If the subject is just out and about, minding their own business, no harm no foul.

Different state, large cities, YMMV.
 
If the subject is just out and about, minding their own business, no harm no foul.
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I definitely agree with this. However, I think that most people would agree that walking into a business unannounced with an uncased long gun is a different story.
 
Funny thing Al, my dad used to tell me the story of buying surplus cosmolined 1903s back in the late 40s..he would clean them up and sell them and make $10 or so per gun.

Thing was he had no car so he would hitchhike from the arsenal or whereever he was buying them back to his home. So there he would be with an armful of 1903s and his thumb out. Never got hassled

In The Bronx. A boro of NYC.

WildtimeschangehuhAlaska
 
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