Open Carry List

Guns at the grocery? Where you can — and can't — openly carry a pistol in Fort Worth

The new open carry law went into effect on January 1, but businesses can forbid it with a few choice words.

Photo by Woodson Leather

January 2016 will go down in Texas as the year that the state's new "open carry" law went into effect. As of January 1, properly licensed Texans are permitted to display their handguns in public in holsters on their hips or shoulders.

But seeing a pistol-toting shopper in the middle of the produce department or elsewhere in the store is a scary sight for some. Those who don't want to be around guns in public places can avoid those businesses, but they have to do a little research.

Private property owners can ban guns with a sign worded like this:

Pursuant to Section 30.07, Penal Code (trespass by license holder with an openly carried handgun), a person licensed under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code (handgun licensing law), may not enter this property with a handgun that is carried openly.

Many major retailers, including Tom Thumb, Fiesta, Costco, Trader Joe's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods, ban openly carried firearms in their stores with such a sign, according to the website Gun Free Businesses.

One exception is Kroger, which allows guns to be openly carried in its stores. The chain's CFO has rejected demands to change its policy nationwide. Walmart also appears to allow permitted gun owners to carry guns in stores, although theWall Street Journal reported that a store's associates and customers can complain to management if the presence of firearms makes them "feel uncomfortable in any situation where a customer brings a gun into the store, and store managers can ask customers to leave guns in the car."

Target "respectfully requests guests not bring fire arms into the store," a spokeswoman for the chain said, but will not post signs as required by Texas law.

Carrying a gun openly is banned in most malls, such as Hulen Mall, Ridgmar Mall, and The Parks at Arlington, and movie complexes, including AMC and Cinemark. Other establishments that ban openly carried guns, according to Gun Free Businesses, include Walgreens, Barnes & Noble, IKEA, and all 24 Hour Fitness and YMCA locations.

The Jack in the Box fast-food chain bans open carry, but Starbucks apparently does not, says one CultureMap reader who left a Houston location on Sunday when he was told by an employee it's okay for a permitted gun owner to openly carry a firearm in the coffee shop. (According to a previously announced policy, Starbucks doesn't ban guns but prefers that customers not bring firearms into their stores.)

Gun Free Businesses has a long list of businesses that do not allow open carry, including Chili's, Maggiano's Little Italy, Buffalo Wild Wings, California Pizza Kitchen, Radisson Hotels, T.G.I. Friday’s, Chipotle, Chuck E. Cheese, Chuy’s, and many more. "Alcohol and guns don’t mix well," a Treadsack spokesperson told Gun Free Businesses.

Many restaurants are scrambling to determine policy, and both sources are constantly updating their lists, so the best thing to do if you are unsure is to ask the restaurant or store owner.

Under the new law, it is prohibited to openly carry a weapon at schools, hospitals, nursing homes, sporting events, or airport security checkpoints.

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Museum News

Texas Civil War Museum in Fort Worth to close and sell off artifacts

Texas Civil War Museum

Texas Civil War Museum RIP

A Fort Worth museum is closing its doors: The Texas Civil War Museum, which displayed artifacts from the Civil War era, will close at the end of October.

The museum, located at 760 Jim Wright Fwy. North in White Settlement, had been open since 2006.

According to a post by museum marketing director Dennis Partrich, the venue will close on October 31.

"The museum will be closing for good," Patrich said. "The decision was made by the family and the board of directors. In addition, the building has been sold."

In November, the bulk of its collection will go to a consignor in Pennsylvania called The Horse Soldier, who said in a statement that they'd be selling it to interested parties piece-by-piece.

"We will not be selling these items at auction, but we will be posting items to our website to sell, and selling out of our shop in Gettysburg," the consignor said.

The Texas Civil War Museum was founded by North Texas oil executive Ray Richey, and featured photographs, war antiques, uniforms, and guns donated by Richey and his wife, Judy, who curates a collection of Victorian-era dresses.

The museum also displayed materials donated by the now-closed Texas Confederate Museum in Austin. Those materials are owned by the Texas division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and will not be sold.

All other items will be placed in storage.

The museum initially planned to close in December 2023 but was persuaded to stay open by ardent fans.

It became embroiled in the Confederate statue imbroglio in 2019 wherein the city of Dallas took down a 1935 bronze statue of Robert E. Lee and considered donating it to the museum before selling it to a private buyer. According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the museum defended Confederate monuments on its Facebook page, but Richey told the newspaper that “we just deal with the artifacts and try to present the war as it happened. We don’t want to get into the 'why'."

Since the museum shared the news of its closure on August 29, it has already experienced a flurry of interest, including brisk sales at its museum store which sells old flags and other Civil War memorabilia.

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