Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire WalMart vs, Open Carry in Texas

In a video released by Open Carry Texas last week, a man who was openly carrying a handgun at a Walmart in Devine, Texas, is asked by a store employee to present his handgun license and the man caught it all on his camera phone.

The man who is at the center of the video, Aaron Darby, and a Walmart employee argue for a few minutes in the clip. He refuses to show the employee his handgun license.

Darby says Walmart also called Devine police to the scene. He says that he went to the store's customer service desk after the events in the video and was soon met by two Devine officers who asked to see his handgun license.

"I complied and explained to them that there was no probable cause of any crime being committed and that, by law, I was not required to do so."

He says he apologized to them for the time they wasted in responding to the call.
"They agreed, reviewed my (license to carry) and said I was good to go back to shopping," Darby says.

Darby says the incident occurred on Jan. 20. He says he's filed a complaint with Walmart's global ethics department and has spoken with local management.
He added that he's patronized that store while open-carrying every day since the incident with no problems.

Earlier this year, when open carry became the law of the land in Texas, Walmart corporate enacted this practice. Managers on duty are now tasked with confirming that open carriers have proper licensing in addition to everything else in their job descriptions.

Brian Nick, the senior director of national media relations for Walmart, says this practice is currently in place in Walmart stores across Texas that sell alcohol (in Texas’ case, that means beer and wine).

“We will continue to allow customers to carry firearms on Walmart property as long as they follow local, state and federal firearm laws,” Nick says.

“In line with Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission requirements, our stores that sell alcoholic beverages will not allow customers to carry non-licensed handguns or long-arms into our facilities.”

In other words, it’s OK to bring in a handgun to Walmart if one is properly licensed because the store’s alcohol sales are 50% or less of the total gross receipts.

In addition, Nick says Walmart also films every firearm sale at its locations and a member of management escorts gun-buying customers out of the store after each sale. This is a common practice already at leading sporting-goods outlets like Academy.

In Texas, police cannot stop and demand that you show them an ID based solely on you open-carrying. They can request you do so though, but they cannot demand it without probable cause.

As Fortune reported earlier this year, Arkansas-based Walmart phased out the sale of AR-15s and similar weapons in summer 2015, citing low demand from customers.

CJ Grisham, the founder of Open Carry Texas, said TABC's general counsel agreed with him this week that Walmart doesn't need to check for licenses. He said he wishes TABC would step in to stop Walmart from doing so.

“We began these talks a few weeks ago and they have done nothing to educate licensees that their liquor license is not in jeopardy by not checking to see if people open-carrying are licensed to carry,” Grisham said.

Meanwhile, Grisham says he and others in the Open Carry movement are not done with Walmart by any means.

“We have begun applying political pressure to the issue as well as trying to bring some negative attention to Walmart for harassing its customers,” Grisham said.

Laws that are passed, or repealed, in September of a year will not be made available in writing until the following summer. Most LEO's and almost no "civilians" are familiar with them until they are. Right? No...but that's just the way it is. We can't take for granted that a newspaper article or blog is accurate, and the thousands of changes in the laws cannot be communicated to millions of people by a phone call from the State Attorney General. It's easy for anybody with an agenda to find LEO's that aren't familiar with new laws.

Similar thing happened here in Lubbock 2 weeks ago. Good friend of mine was at the store when a manager confronted a man who was OC. The manager told him that because they sell alcohol there, he was not allowed to open carry in the store.

The man OC told the manager that he was incorrect about the rules, which the manager was incorrect. The manager asked the man to leave the store and the man refused. Cops called, man taken out by cops. Not because of the OC, but because he refused to leave after the manager asked him to do so.

So if Walmart or any other retailer can put up a sign saying "No Firearms Allowed", or they can go with the law of the land and allow open carry, I guess they can do anything between?? If they said sure, you can carry here, but you have to climb through this maze, jump over that bar, slide under that table, and shop on all fours, would that be legal?

People come and go with hardware strapped on all the time in our local Walmart.

I actually ran into my first open carry place last weekend. It's a little BBQ kiosk/trailer that sets up in a parking lot. I go up and they have signs that read "firearms welcome". About 10 people in line, and I'm the only white guy around. One of the black guys is wearing an "infidel" t-shirt while open carrying. Reckon I'll patronize them again

good BBQ, too.

Last week watched a 30-something father herding his three young kids through WalMart with open carry.

And that was on the Front Range no less.........

Good on him.

Casey

They have bad info.

There are no gun license requirements in Texas.


Anyone merely walking into a WalMart has already made the worst mistake.

Last time I checked, at least in Texas, a property owner can allow or disallow anybody they want for any reason. Of course, the Fed's are working on that.

I was under the impression that those with concealed carry licenses were OK'ed to carry open....and others were not.


Anybody in Texas, can you confirm?

I applaud Walmart, for not doing as so many businesses in Texas have done, begin displaying the 30:07 signs forbidding license holders from open carrying in their establishment. These 30:07 signs are becoming common here in Austin. It also seems that a lot of businesses have decided to also display the 30:06 sign forbidding license holders from concealed carrying.

I have yet to see anyone open carrying in Austin.

Devine???? I wonder if they ever had this problem at Loggins & Lilly's back in the day??? Remember the sign painted on the side of their building, downtown? They sold everything "from a rat skin to a ranch!"

Correct, unless you are engaged in an activity in which carrying is common practice, then no license is required. subjective, I know.

Hmmm think about that

Truth be told, I was a little stunned to find that there is a WalMart in Devine. So much for all the local businesses that have been there forever...

I have yet to see someone open carry around here.

I had business at the Courthouse a couple weeks ago and took the opportunity to quiz some of the officials about carrying inside the Courthouse. One reason why I did was because the 30 06 sign which used to be displayed had been removed and there was no 30 07 sign.

The J P's secretary didn't know and referred me to the Sheriff's office, which is across town. So, I went to the County Attorney's office.

It took awhile to get a straight answer, but it boiled down to this [according to him]:

No carrying, concealed or open, in the Courtroom. Also, no carrying in the County Atty's office or the County Judge's office.

When I pressed him, he admitted that the last two places were off limits only because they would ask you to leave if carrying. IOW... you would not be in violation of any law by entering while carrying, but only if you refused to leave when asked.

I read in the paper that Wichita County Commissioners had voted to ban concealed or open carry anywhere in the Courthouse.

Basically, nothing has changed in one regard: You may have to spend a good deal of money to educate some local LEO's about your rights if arrested....... and it costs them nothing.

BTDT before CC was legal statewide.

Local Walmart here allows open carry as it is legal in Oregon to do so...

only real incidents we have is when you hear some woman scream about someone having a firearm.. "oh my God he has a GUN!!!"

pretty much always someone from California passing thru the area....

local sheriff's office has a sign on their front door stating that...to keep down on the traffic... Walmart just tells the screamer its legal and if they don't like it they can go over to the Sheriff's Office which is on the street behind the store...

Better than fuggin HEB

Not sure about Texas but the way our law is written, you are legal to open carry without any permit or documentation of any kind. A concealed carry permit is only needed if you conceal your weapon.

Everyone still ends up buying the permit though because here a weapon is considered concealed if it's inside your vehicle. The only way to get by without the permit is if you store your pistol in the trunk and put it on for open carry whenever you get out of the vehicle.

Our Walmart allows open carry and no one seems to take any notice. Our local PD was recently ordered to remove signs they had posted on some government buildings like the library that stated " Firearms are not allowed except where expressly permitted by law." I was sort of a sideways attempt to bluff people into not carrying because everywhere they put a sign,it was actually legal to carry. We have a citizens group that filled suit and the signs came down.