Business owners, church staffers attend Open Carry meeting

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - When open carry goes into effect some gun rights advocates will cheer, but Ft. Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls wont.  He's expecting a little chaos.

"I'm going to safely assume there are many in this county that don't even know this law is going into effect on January First and our dispatch is going to get hammered." he said.

Hundreds of business owners, church staffers and private school administrators packed into a meeting to hear Sheriff Nehls explain the new law.

Businesses that wish to ban people from carrying guns inside at all will now how to post two signs, a 30.06 banning concealed guns and a 30.07 sign banning open carry.

The signs have to contain specific language, the letters must be at least an inch tall, and they must be posted by every entrance.

While audience members had plenty of questions, there are some provisions of the law even law enforcement has questions about.

It specifies handguns must be carried in a hip or shoulder holster but not how many guns can be carried. License holders carrying openly can't refuse to show their  concealed handgun license to peace officers but the law doesn't specify a penalty for refusing.

Nehls and Ft. Bend County DA John Healy are trying to get clarification from the State DA on those and other questions but in the meantime there's going to be a learning curve.

"We're going to have to wait and see how this is going to pan out over the next several months." said Nehls.