4 U.S. states mull openly carried guns

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Four Southern U.S. states may join much of the rest of the country in letting people carry handguns openly in a holster, gun-rights proponents say.

If Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas pass "open carry" legislation, then only New York and Florida would bar carrying handguns openly, proponents say.

The four states "are extremely gun-friendly," OpenCarry.org co-founder John Pierce tells USA Today.

"They understand the individual rights aspect," he says. "Yet for whatever reason, the carry laws in these states are restrictive."

OpenCarry's motto is "a right unexercised is a right lost."

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution bars the infringement of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states that ban carrying handguns entirely, the National Rifle Association says.

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, tells USA Today his group, which opposes open-carry laws, does not "want more people carrying guns either openly or concealed because the more guns you have in a situation, the more likely you are to get gun violence."

Texas Open Carry Work Group chairman Ian McCarthy, a student, says a concealed gun is uncomfortable during hot Texas summers, takes longer to draw in self-defense and won't deter a criminal.

"If a criminal sees you're armed, he's not going to mess with you," McCarthy says.