FORT WORTH, Texas — Saying Texas firearm laws are overly restrictive, a group of gun advocates is lobbying state lawmakers to permit wearing handguns in plain view.

With the legislative session scheduled to begin in January, supporters of "open-carry laws" have placed ads on billboards in Houston and San Antonio and on taxis in Austin.

The Texas campaign is expected to intensify Tuesday with a radio message in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. The ad said, "We don't hide our colors, do we?" and encourages Texans to sign an online petition asking lawmakers to make Texas a place where people can openly wear their guns. More than 28,000 people have signed it so far.

Texas is one of six states, along with New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina, in which handguns can't be worn in plain view. The other 44 states, in the parlance of gun advocates, are known as "open-carry" states.