‘Wild West’ hype on Texas gun laws never comes true. Why listen on permitless carry?

As the Texas Legislature considered a new gun law, a politician opposed to it predicted: “The only outcome of the passage of this bill will be more people killed by gunfire.” She blamed “a few legislators who appear intent on embarrassing this great state as a place where gun-toting vigilantes roam the streets.”

That was Gov. Ann Richards in 1993, discussing the right to carry a concealed handgun.

Next, it was a decorated military leader, warning that “there is great concern that the presence of handguns, even if limited to licensed individuals age 21 or older, will lead to an increase in both accidental shootings and self-inflicted wounds.”

That was retired Adm. William McRaven, then the chancellor of the University of Texas System, in 2015, on allowing licensees to carry weapons on college campuses.

“I hope we don’t have a host of Texans running around with a Rambo mentality,” that was former Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, when the Legislature approved open carry, also in 2015.

Seen any Sylvester Stallone doppelgangers lately?

The same super scary speculative scenarios are being trotted out again as the Legislature moves to allow the carrying a handgun without a license, or “constitutional carry,” as its proponents call it. The Senate appeared poised to approve the bill late Wednesday, and Gov. Greg Abbott has said he’ll sign the measure.

TRAINING AND LICENSES

The idea of permitless carry isn’t perfect. It’s good that someone who wants to carry a gun should be required to submit to a licensing process and training. And opponents have a point that no right comes without limits. The debate is heated, but the impact on gun owners either way is probably marginal.

Every time Texas has expanded gun rights, though, predictions of “Wild West” shootouts have proved wrong. For three decades.

From the early 1980s on, Texas has seen a steep drop in gun violence, even as laws such as concealed-carry took effect. It appears to be rising now, but that’s driven primarily by gang violence, not legal gun owners firing every time someone cuts them off in traffic.

With expanded gun rights, “safety has actually been improved across our state,” Georgetown Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner said while defending his bill.

Police leaders and other law-enforcement groups oppose permitless carry. They raise the valid concern about yet another burden upon officers, having to determine whether someone with a handgun is allowed to carry it. But police officials have been among those predicting widespread shootouts. They’ve been wrong, too.

Gun-rights bills are usually much more tailored than opponents acknowledge. When they predicted campus-carry would lead to professors being slaughtered for expressing controversial views, they ignored that restrictions on age and other factors would probably lead to only 2 percent of students being eligible to carry at school, and, of course, even fewer would choose to.

PLENTY OF GUN LAWS STILL IN PLACE

As with so much of our gun debate, the focus is in the wrong place. Senate Democrats suggested Wednesday that a felon or a domestic abuser would suddenly be able to carry a gun. They ignore the plethora of gun laws that make it illegal for such people to have a weapon.

You can’t legally carry something you shouldn’t legally have in the first place. It’s dishonest to suggest otherwise.

Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston, took first prize in the absurd hypothetical contest. He noted that crime is spiking in Texas’ large cities and predicted that with permitless carry, “it would double.” That kind of foggy-brained speculation should be disqualifying, but then, this is the Texas Legislature.

Miles couldn’t resist the most tired cliche, either, saying that if the bill passes, “We’re basically saying the wild, wild west is open.”

There are better arguments on both sides. But consider: If a trader who hadn’t gotten a single pick right in 30 years offered you a stock tip, would you act on it?

Of course not. And decisions on permitless carry shouldn’t be based on hyperventilating that has proved wrong again and again and again.