Time to Load Up on Legal Facts For ‘Open Carry'

Steve Roppolo was quoted in the San Antonio Business Journal on June 12, 2015. The article “Time to Load Up on Legal Facts For ‘Open Carry’” discussed how businesses in Texas are already sorting out the details of the state’s new open carry and campus carry laws taking effect in the next months.

Steve said, “The open carry law represents the intersection of property rights and the right to bear arms.”

“What you see here is an attempt to have the two sets of rights actually co-exist in our everyday lives,” he said. “It allows the property owners to say, ‘I don’t think so. I don’t want that on my property.’ But at the same time, it allows the concealed handgun holder to have their rights, too.”

The actions needed for a business on a university-owned campus property may be murkier. The campus carry bill passed in Texas is broader. It gives universities broad latitude to create gun-free zones on campus, Steve said. He recommended such businesses consider amending the terms of their existing contracts, if the belief is that campus carry might be an issues.

Then business owners need to deal with employees who own handguns. Steve posed the question: Where do the property rights of the employee end and the property rights of the business begin?

“There’s one set of issues for members of the public walking onto your property. There’s another set of issues of what you have to do with your employees,” he added. “They’re slightly different because they deal with different parts of the code.”

“As a practical matter, this may never become an issue because if I do have my handgun, I’m not going to leave it on the seat because somebody might steal it,” Steve said. “They’re going to bash in my window and take my gun, and then I’m out $700 for my gun.”

To read the full article, please visit San Antonio Business Journal [subscription required].