SAN ANTONIO — It's a safe bet that the Second Amendment is the most popular amendment at the Texas Republican convention. Candidates for state office and party leadership posts fail to pay homage at their peril.

So some of the 7,000 or so delegates were miffed to arrive in San Antonio and find that the headquarters hotel, the Grand Hyatt — like many hotels — bans open carry of firearms, and the use of licenses that allow gun owners to carry concealed handguns.

"It's their right, and it's our right to take our business elsewhere," said Kenneth Grant, an HVAC repairman from Gatesville manning the Open Carry Texas booth in the exhibition hall.

To avoid such bans in downtown San Antonio hotels, he's staying at a Candlewood Suites eight miles away that has no such prohibition.

"If they want a crime spree, that's their choice," said Cody Whitaker, an Army veteran from Garden Ridge, volunteering with Grant at the Open Carry Texas booth.

At the Texas State Rifle Association booth nearby, gun instructor Mike Cox pulled out laminated placards showing the two notices that private property owners can post under the Texas Penal Code. Section 30.06 — pronounced "thirty-ought-six," like a rifle — allows the owner to bar concealed carry. Section 30.7 provides notice that anyone with a license to carry a handgun openly is trespassing.

The Hyatt has both notices. Cox and others took the ban in stride.

It's the owner's right, and it's not that uncommon.

Next door, the Henry B. González Convention Center has no such ban.

Under Texas law, that's not an option at public buildings, and delegates with holstered handguns were a fairly common sight.

The party's new platform calls for an end to gun-free zones around schools in Texas.