With the new "License to Carry" (LTC) and some "Open Carry" options coming to Texas on January 1. 2016, the Legislature has also stipulated that some "Retention Training" be included in DPS' new LTC class lesson plans. 

At a recent instructor conference in Houston, we were told that DPS is working on a special 10 minute video for instructor recertifications and that the same video could be used in classes as soon as it is received The title of it was semi-jokingly referred to as "Sherrie's-methods-of-how--to-NOT-get-your-gun-taken-away-and-used-on-you." 

Many of us think the best way to accomplish THAT is to keep the thing CONCEALED.  ;-)  

Some of us also think that an inordinate amount of time and effort has been expended in relation to the relatively small % of license holders who will actually carry openly (hopefully in a manner that serves as a good ambassador for the Second Amendment).

In any event, all of this prompted my retrieving a Smith and Wesson Model 3913 (Thank you, Bonnie) for purposes of more food for thought for a few people who have concerns of the possibility of being overwhelmed and their gun being snatched by a criminal. Note the "safety switch" in the photo is up, the red dot is showing and the gun is ready to fire. 
For many of us (including 1911 fans), this set up is just downright BACKWARDS: the thumb safety, if there is one, needs to be such that it can be instinctively wiped DOWN (and off) with the gun hand thumb. However, some manufacturers use this "bassackwards" arrangement and some shooters don't have a problem getting acclimated to it. 

Some of us do consider that if a criminal did snatch this type of handgun while the safety was engaged, before they could figure out how to get the safety off, we could (1) take the gun back away from them, (2) go for a backup gun and/or (3) be waaaaaay out of range before they could figure out how to make it go bang.  ;-)

As many Texans likely know by now, we have a new "Open Carry" law that goes into effect January 1, 2016. In conjunction with this, DPS will be revising subsequently issued handgun licenses to eliminate the words "Concealed Handgun License" and replacing our 20-year old "CHL" terminology with "License to Carry", or LTC as the new abbreviation. 

For whatever (controversial) reason(s), the new law (House Bill 910), states that handguns carried OPENLY must be in a "belt or shoulder holster". This - and a lot of unsettling thinking - prompted me to take the adjacent photograph last week in the privacy of our classroom using a (triple checked unloaded) semi automatic pistol in a pretty typical "horizontal" shoulder rig.

So yes, you ARE seeing and reading this correctly. Come January 1, any one of us could very well be standing in the checkout line at Lowe's, Kroger, Walmart, etc and find ourselves looking down the muzzle of a LEGALLY carried handgun in a HORIZONTAL shoulder holster. (Yes, VERTICAL shoulder holster rigs, although not as common, are available.)

The new law includes a provision for businesses to be able to simply ask license holders to leave if they do not want them carrying openly on their private property. The law also gives specifications for sizing and specific verbiage (in English and Spanish) of a new "30.07 sign" that businesses can place at entrances if they want to prohibit open carry of handguns.

While some extremist "pro gun" folks take the position that the "non gun" people should just "get used to seeing handguns in public", horizontal shoulder holsters that "muzzle" people, in my no-so-humble opinion, is NOT going to be a good way to be a good ambassador for the Second Amendment. All it will take is a very small number of license holders carrying openly in holsters as described in the adjacent photo for us to see hundreds - if not thousands - of 30.07 signs going up all over the state by February 1.

Since the late 1990s in especially Hunter Education classes (and sometimes in CHL classes), we instructors have presented various scenarios and asked students to answer 3 basic questions for each scenario: Is it a safe shot? Is it a legal shot? Is it an ethical shot?  In regard to the open carry of handguns in horizontal shoulder rigs, I conclude with similar as food for thought for what, by January 1, will be very close to 1 million Texans with a license for this option.

Question: Is it safe?   
Answer: See NRA Rule #1 and Jeff Cooper's Rule #2.

Question: Is is legal?  
Answer: Re-read the first three paragraphs above, see Texas DPS web site and House Bill 910.

Question: Is it ethical?  
Answer: See Webster's Dictionary definition: "The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation."

Thanks for reading - and thinking about it all. Feel free to leave questions or comments below and/or share this far and wide with those who may have need or interest.