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Ok my questions is, I live in an apartment complex with a patio of my own on the second floor, there all many residents around me and when i sit on the patio i am in plain view of the world, so my question is can I open carry my handgun outside in plain view of the public or would it just cause un-nessacery panic from some.

...some bleeding-heart liberal would probably complain and call in a man-with-a-gun complaint...you KNOW how dem liberals are

Why would you want to open carry even on your patio?
Much of the benefit of being armed whether it's a firearm or a club is the element of surprise.
I can see it out hunting or fishing but open carry around the general public is fishing for trouble.

Sure you can do it. Will someone call the police? Probably. As an individual, practicing free will, you need to decide if its worth the hassle.

dubya wrote:Why would you want to open carry even on your patio?
Much of the benefit of being armed whether it's a firearm or a club is the element of surprise.
I can see it out hunting or fishing but open carry around the general public is fishing for trouble.

like I said this is nothing more than a hypothetical scenario. I try to let as few people know that I have a weapon and do not want any extra attention be it from a nosey neighbor or the police

I made the decision at my house NOT to open carry outside my house. It opens the door for a lot of headaches if someone does call.

you might read your lease. I know mine says displaying dangerous weapons or firearms in a public area is prohibited.

There are some who would call the police if you were inside your house or apartment if the blinds were open and you were in there with a gun.
Others think it's just fine to be outside mowing their front yard while openly carrying in full view of their neighbors.
I'd consider that patio something like the front yard.
If it is specifically your patio, that is no one else has any business being there unless they're your guest or something, I think you could argue that it's property under your control, just like inside the apartment, and therefore legal, even though it really belongs to the owner of the apartment complex. (Apartmens love to send you notice that you are responsible for sweeping and keeping trash out of these areas. I think that would lend weight to the idea that it is property you control.) Now, if you were down by the pool or in some other community area, I don't think you'd have much chance of convincing people it was property under your control.

I AM NOT A LAWYER. The above is more along the lines of "speculation" rather than "factual information," and certainly not legal advice.

dubya wrote:Why would you want to open carry even on your patio?

Sort of a parallel to one of the open carry arguments:
I'm out there with my OWB pistol under a jacket, enjoying a beverage with a friend. (A non-alcoholic beverage to avoid that debate in this thread.)
The sun comes out from behind the clouds and it's suddenly too warm in this jacket.
Must I sit there and sweat? If I want to remove the jacket for comfort, do I have to go inside and remove the pistol or find a different way to conceal it? Or can I just take the jacket off, secure in the knowledge that I'm on my patio, which I rent, and is therefore under my control, and I'm not doing anything illegal?

I know there is at least one or two threads on the subject of walking around on your property in full view of your neighbors while carrying. Not sure how you would find it.

The consensus that I took away from them was that if the neighbors complained and felt threatened, it could result in a ride at the very least.

If they complained and didn't admit to feeling threatened, it appeared that whatever resulted was up to the individual responding LEO.

You can be on private property and still in a public place. From what I understand (from a lecture in an undergrad law course about ten years ago), it comes down to the fictitious "reasonable person". . .

It probably parallels being naked in your house. If you have no blinds or curtains and stand proudly in your birthday suit in the front window as pedestrians pass by on the sidewalk, you are at fault. If you have blinds and somebody is at your window trying to peer between the slats, they are at fault.

The guidelines were:
- Can a normal person from the public easily and readily see you without going out of their way or to an extreme length? If so, then you are at risk and need to take steps to block the view.

- If they have to climb a fence, lean around a wall, and use a periscope to see you, then you're probably fine.

INAL and others may offer more sage advice, but that's the rule of thumb that I use for open carrying.

What would you be charged with when taking the proverbial "ride"? The patio of your own apartment is clearly "property under your control"...so 46.02 is out. 42.01 Disorderly Conduct, requires that you "displays a firearm or other deadly weapon in a public place in a
manner calculated to alarm;

Calculated to alarm doesn't just mean that somebody gets alarmed, it means that you displayed it in a manner that you meant to alarm people. If open carry of a handgun was automatically considered to be "calculated to alarm", everybody at the range (public place) would be getting arrested.

ScottDLS wrote:Calculated to alarm doesn't just mean that somebody gets alarmed, it means that you displayed it in a manner that you meant to alarm people. If open carry of a handgun was automatically considered to be "calculated to alarm", everybody at the range (public place) would be getting arrested.

More importantly, if a holstered handgun was calculated to alarm, then the cops would be arresting every armed security guard, including armored car personnel, and then start arresting each other until there was only one cop left open carrying in Texas.

Here's a few. That last one has a good post from Steve that I was looking for.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44414&hilit=open+carry+front+yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44414&hilit=open+carry+front+yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=44414&hilit=open+carry+front+yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=32952&hilit=open+carry+front+yard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=31053&p=359871&hil ... ce#p359871" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Darn it. There were several, but I somehow managed to copy the link to the same one three times. Anyhow, I searched (open carry front yard) and (open carry front yard public place) to find these.