PARIS, Texas—Gun-rights activists, some of them wearing camouflage and military-style gear and openly toting rifles and handguns, marched alongside the hundreds of people who flocked to downtown Dallas last week to protest police shootings of blacks.
Their presence was part of the new legal landscape in Texas, which earlier this year allowed people to openly carry firearms in public.
Moments later, when a sniper gunned down officers patrolling the peaceful march, killing five, the attack ignited panic and confusion. Who was shooting? Were the people with weapons friend or foe?
It was the same nightmare scenario that some law enforcement officials predicted when Texas approved the open-carry proposal.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown estimated that 20 to 30 open-carry activists attended the rally. He said some wore gas masks, bulletproof vests and fatigues. They ran when the shots rang out, but the presence of so many armed individuals at the scene of a sniper attack caused instant confusion.
