He said there were about 140 million butterflies this year. The goal is 220 million of them by the year 2020.

News For You, March 16, 2016

Texas Business Owners Struggle to Make a Choice Over Open-Carry Gun Law

Would you eat at a restaurant where someone in the next booth was openly carrying a gun? Would you shop at a store that banned gun owners from bringing their legal weapons inside?

These are questions that are worrying Texas business owners. They are trying to figure out how to best serve their customers.

Thanks to a new open-carry gun law, they must make a choice. Do they allow openly carried guns in their businesses, or do they ban the weapons? Many wish they didn’t have to enter the gun debate at all.

Texas gun owners have been legally allowed to carry concealed or hidden weapons since 1996. They need a permit to do so.

As of January 1, the same permit allows Texans to legally carry holstered guns in open view. Holstered guns are carried in a special case, not in a person’s hands.

Private businesses can forbid “open carry” by posting public signs stating their choice.

The choice isn’t a simple one.

8. You have to make sure you are doing the right thing for your customers,” said Eddie McBride. He leads the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce. “That is the awkward position a lot of businesses find themselves in.”

Hundreds of Texas businesses have banned open carry. Many of hem are restaurants. Other businesses have no problem with open carry. The results are a bit confusing.

For instance, the supermarket chain HEB has banned open carry. Kroger’s has not.

At the Fort Worth Stock Show, open carry was allowed on the streets and in the display halls. It was not allowed in the rodeo arena or in the livestock barns, where children sat with their animals.

Public establishments cannot ban open carry. For that reason, the state’s mental hospitals must allow openly carried guns. But hospital officials are posting signs asking people not to come in armed.

Some churches have banned open carry. Others have not.

David Clarke owns two coffeehouses in Fort Worth. He banned open carry in both his cafes.

15. “Customers told us that if we didn’t post, they would consider not coming back,” he said. “It forced me to make a decision.”

16. So far, one customer has reacted badly to the ban and stopped coming to the café. But two police officers started clapping when Clarke posted his sign.

Hey said I was not in their interests to have people going around with guns in their holsters,” Clarke said.

Even gun supporters are split on the issue. Some dislike the new law. They think it could lead businesses to ban concealed guns, too. Other gun supporters are happy with the freedom the new law allows.

19. “Just the other day when I was eating lunch, it was…warm inside and I wanted to be able to take off my jacket,” said C. J. Grisham. He runs a group that pushes for open-carry rights. “Now I can take my jacket off.”

The chances of seeing someone open carry are low, Grisham said. About 4 percent of Teans have the permits needed to open carry. That’s about 940,000 people, out of 27 million Texans.

Forty-four other states allow a form of open carry.

News For You, March 16, 2016

Explorer Back on Earth

After Nearly a Year in Space

What is the first thing you do after a year in space?

For Scott Kelly, it was taking a breath of cold, fresh air.

That was how planet Earth welcome Kelly back from 340 days on the International Space Station (ISS).

In fact, nature was what Kelly and his ISS Russian roommate missed most.

5. “Like Scott, I wanted to see Earth and I wanted to smell that fresh air,” said Mikhail Kornienko. It “is an unforgettable feeling.”

Th Russians have spent longer stretches of ime in space. But Kelly broke the record for NASA. That is America’s space agency. The old record was 215 days. Kelly did not make his journey just to set a record. He did it to prepare future astronauts for trips to Mars.

Kelly and Kornienko may have said goodbye to the ISS for now. But neither of them will say goodbye to medical tests anytime soon.

⇐ Предыдущая123

Поделиться: