There has not even been a single complete calendar year since Texas passed their open carry law. This article is looking over a period of months, not years. So how does this illustrate violent crime declined when they haven’t had even a single a calendar year of data to look at? In multiple other states — including my home state — violent crime has increased since passage of open carry. More importantly, in states with open carry the violent crime rate is higher than the national average. In any event, assuming correlation is causation is s fallacy in either direction.