For my first post, I'm going to state the same thing I said on the Texas CHL Forum
http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_Forum/index.php:
I don't know what the law is in other States, so this is Texas-specific.
After much internal debate, I have decided that I am going to institute the following personal policy:
Compliant signs I am of course going to obey. I am going to carry right past signs that are obviously non-compliant (gunbusters, "no weapons allowed, etc)". The near-compliant signs I am going to take on a case-by case basis.
Here's why:
Compliant signs are obvious. I obey the law.
The obviously non-compliant sign does not apply to me. It clearly does not meet the requirements of the law and therefore does not constitute proper notice. Now, I know what you're going to say: "forget them! I'm not going to give my hard-earned money to anti-gun bigots." Is the business bigoted against gun owners? How do you know? The sign? Not necessarily. Most business owners and managers are sheeple like everybody else. They are not informed on the issue and haven't given five seconds worth of thought to the Second Amendment or RKBA. All they know about guns is the propaganda they are spoon-fed by the mass media. They are probably either supplied their "no guns" signs by their corporate masters or they were looking around the office supply and picked them up along with the "no soliciting" and "no food and drinks" signs. And put the "no guns" signs up with just as much thought as the others.
All I want to do right now is get a pair of shoes or something. Now is not the time to educate the store owner on RKBA. Nor do I have the energy to devote to ferreting out every possible source of anti-gun bigotry in the Houston area. If the business is truly prejudiced against me, then they can just expend a little effort to do the research so they can give me the proper notice. There is no secret about what the requirements are. If they really cared that much, they'd put up the proper sign.
The near-compliant signs are a possible sticky point. On one hand, the law is the law and the requirements are right there in black and white. Block letters. Contrasting colors. One inch high. Etc. On the other hand, I'm not going to go around with a ruler and say to myself "well, the letters ore only 15/16" high, I'm going through" That's not the hill I'm willing to die on.
The typewritten sheet that has the correct wording on it I'll blow by if its somewhere I want or need to be. Otherwise, I'll take my money somewhere else and probably let them know about it, too. Taco Cabana and their ilk are a special case. Even though they have an obviously non-compliant sign with 1/2" letters, their position has been made well-known so I'm going to respect their wishes and take my legally owned and legally carried defensive sidearm, and my money, elsewhere. And, I'm going to write them about it too.