Texas Open Carry Handgun Laws - Texas is considered as one of the few states in the US with an absolute ban on the open carry of handguns, but that could change next year. The Republican-controlled Legislature and Governor-elect Greg Abbott are expected to push for expanded gun rights.

The open carry of handgun laws have drawn wide support in the 2014 Texas statewide election. At least six bills have already been filed for the upcoming session that will start in January. According to Fox News, Gov. Abbott has already sworn to sign one into law if sent to his desk.

If Texas, which allows concealed handguns, enacts the open carry of handgun laws, it will roll back a 140-year ban. And The Daily Mail said Texas would be the largest state to have done so.

"If open carry is good enough for Massachusetts, its good enough for the state of Texas," Abbott said last month.

According to a California-based group advocating gun control legislation, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, most states in the US have already allowed some form of open carry of handguns. However, the states that make up a third of the US population and include six of its seven largest population centers that include Texas, California, Florida, New York, Illinois and South Carolina, have yet to legislate such laws.

Several proposed new gun laws await the new Texas legislature this 2015. It includes the open carry of handguns in public and to provide a sales tax holiday for firearms purchases. According to Reuters, the proposed measures would prohibit cities and counties from restricting gun rights and attempt to have any new federally imposed limitations on firearms declared illegal in Texas.

In response to a series of school shooting incidents across the United States, several conservative Texas legislators promote measures that would make it easier for administrators and educators to carry weapons, stating that the Texas open carry of handgun laws are methods to prevent violence.    

In spite of the early impetus, there are still no guarantees that the Texas open carry of handgun laws will be enacted. But lawmakers in Texas, which is known to be as the capital of the American gun culture, are hopeful to push some bills through the state legislature that will expand the owners' gun rights.