Likely Democratic nominee for governor Wendy Davis is retaining her support for the open-carry issue despite some rumblings within her own party but emphasized this week that that position comes with caveats -- Davis would make sure city governments retained a local control of the issue.
Davis said her position on open carry remains consistent with her position on the guns on campus issue -- she voted against guns on campus but offered an amendment that would allow individual college campuses to decide the issue.
"Obviously in Texas we have a culture that respects the 2nd Amendment right and privilege of owning and carrying guns," Davis said. "But we also of course have respect and understand the rights and privileges of property owners to make the decisions of what’s right for them."
Right now cities and local communities don’t have the authority to ban state laws that allow for concealed carry or, one day, open carry gun laws.
Davis was asked if she thought municipalities should be able to ban open carry within their city limits.
"I do believe that municipalities should be able to make that decision for themselves -- I believe local control means local control," she said.
Opponents argue there is no such thing as local control for constitutional rights and that state laws indicate where firearms are banned. Greg Abbott, Davis’ likely Republican opponent in the governor's race, issued this statement, saying:
"Constitutional rights don’t stop at the city limits."
