The appearance of 40 armed men outside a Texas restaurant this weekend was the latest confrontation between an open-carry gun-rights group and a mothers group advocating gun control that was meeting inside, reports USA Today. Police monitored the incident at the Blue Mesa Grill in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, but took no action because it is legal to carry long guns openly in Texas.
One of four women at Saturday’s meeting complained to police but was told that no law had been violated, said a spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense. Shannon Watts, founder of the Indianapolis-based national gun control organization, said the mothers were holding a private meeting — not a rally — at the restaurant. She founded her group after the Newtown, Ct., school killings. The Open Carry Texas contingent, which included men, women and children, were armed with about two dozen semi-automatic rifles, which are classified as long guns in Texas and can be legally carried openly.