HAPPINESS IS NOT A WARM OPEN-CARRY GUN, OR IS IT?

By Juan Montoya
Now that the law in Texas allows a properly licensed person to openly carry a holstered firearm in public places, just how does that law apply to specific places in Brownsville.
Can you, for example, carry it in City Hall?
Since we know that the law does not include churches and schools (educational places), does it also apply to other places where the public gathers, like parks?
Last time we looked (yesterday), the municipal court was one of the few public facilities where it is expressly prohibited for anyone, even someone with a concealed permit, a firearm.
Local police tell us that if they come upon a disturbance, they have been instructed to disarm any of the participants before they set about to calm the situation. Now, how are they going to return the weapons if the individual was not cited or involved in a ruckus? Will they return the weapon at the scene? Will they remove the bullets and return it that way to the individual? Or will they tell them to go pick it up later at the PD?
These questions have arisen out of the total lack of direction that the city (read City Attorney Mark Sossi) has failed to give the administration and other facilities funded by public money.
Take for instance, the Gladys Porter Zoo.
The zoo is credited with bringing in more tourist dollars to the city than any other entity. Thousands of school districts from across the Rio Grande Valley (as well as students from the Brownsville Independent School District) visit the facility each year.
Would their school boards send the kids to the zoo if they knew that the place was allowing open-carry inside?
We have also learned that zoo director Pat Burchfield has not received guidance form the city on whether to allow the open carrying of firearms by visitors there. Apparently, since the zoo receives thousands from the city, it would necessarily have to comply with whatever policies are applied by the city commission. So far, Burchfield has said that no legal guidance from Sossi's office has come across his desk. A cursory visit to the zoo shows that there is no sign prohibiting the open carrying of weapons there.
And what about the Mexican visitors? Folks from across the puddle are not used to seeing men openly carrying weapons unless they are law enforcement, cartel or La Maña (Black Hand). All of them are to be avoided.
Would they frequent the zoo in the numbers they do if they knew they could encounter armed civilians roaming the exhibits packing heat openly?

We have always thought that passage in the Texas Legislature of the open-carry law was a bad idea. After all, here in Brownsville we have seen trained police officers mistake a pellet gun and a screwdriver and shoot two people to death, on a 15-year-old. Now, these are trained law enforcement officers. If that what's happens with them, what can we expect from the average citizen?
The City of Brownsville should not have to react to a shooting incident involving someone openly carrying a weapon on its streets and alleys before it clearly sends a strong message delineating how and where people who are adamant about openly carrying weapons in public can go. The responsibility of the city government and administration should have seen this coming a long time ago. But given Sossi's penchant for being a scofflaw, will we have to wait for a lethal encounter on Brownsville streets before we state city policy?