East Texas law enforcement learn about open carry, active shooter situations

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - There are still a lot of questions surrounding the new open carry law going into effect on Jan. 1, 2015, and there are some changes you need to know about if you do decide to openly carry.

In Smith County on Friday, about 60 law enforcement officers from the East Texas area took part in a training and learning about the new law.

Here are a few important aspects you should know:

• If you already have a concealed handgun license you may not have to get a new handgun license if you want to open carry.

"People will still be able to hold onto their concealed handgun license, but when it's time to renew it just becomes a handgun license. So it just combines the concealed and open carry into one license the handgun license," Deputy Stockwell said.

• If you don't have any sort of license you will need to get a handgun license to open carry. Officers will also have the right to ask you for your license if you do open carry.

"Once probable cause reasonable suspicion has been applied by the officer and somebody is not open carry certified then yes, they can," Deputy Stockwell explained.

Deputy Stockwell also said business owners will need to put a sign in the front of their business specifically saying you can't open carry there. If they want to prevent both concealed and open carry they will need two signs.

But Friday's training wasn't just about the open carry law; officers also learned how people should respond if they find themselves in an active shooter situation.

"We will deny entry. If it's a classroom, a sanctuary, wherever we may be, a movie theater, if we can't avoid the state we want to deny access to the shooter. If we can't avoid we can't deny you better be willing to defend it," Sergeant Darrell Coslin said.

"They need to understand as law enforcement what civilians are doing, what the schools are doing so if they do respond to an active shooter event in their role as a police officer, they'll understand what we expect the community to do during the event," he added.

Sergeant Coslin also said that officers should know what people need to do in an active shooter situation so that they can share it with others in the community.

Friday's training was sponsored by the Smith County Sheriff's Office and Tyler Junior College. They are also hosting an open carry training for the general public Saturday morning from 8:30 to noon at the Tyler Junior College West Campus.

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