Chron - Texas open carry bill has growing support

Joe Straus

qednick said:

Sweet! Now let's just hope they "oust" Strauss!

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Hello.

Joe Straus is the "Republican Democrats like".
He almost got ousted when he went on the Jewish rant.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...vative-replace-jewish-speaker-texan-pols-say/
He has since piped down.
He is like a windshield wiper on issues.
The only real reason I am for Open Carry is the cops will try and play games.
It is against the law to "print" a firearm, OC would eliminate that.
Right now, the biggest, baddest, bang bang I can carry is the Walther PPK/S.
Change the rules, and nothing is off limits!
Texas is talking about simply not enforcing federal laws.
The Affordable Care Act is an example.
Another is this "Brothers Keeper.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper
Texas is arguing that by including only blacks, it violates not only federal mandated laws, but runs afoul of federal laws.
Just like California is the breeding ground for liberal laws, Texas appears to be the conservative breeding ground.
Governor Rick Perry has refused to sign off on the affordable care act.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/07/09/512671/texas-wont-implement-obamacare/
I am not taking sides on anything but guns at this point.
My opinion is that crooks carry guns, they do not obey the laws.
Why can a law abiding citizen not be allowed to carry?
The rest, let someone else sort it out.
Thank you.

Pretty good summary of activity in TX on OC - lots of action now that liberal-nutjob democrats have been stomped down some more.
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-lawmakers-put-gun-rights-laws-sights-170603399.html

Texas weighs allowing open carry of handguns

GREAT ARTICLE ABOUT OC IN TEAXAS:

"Texas weighs allowing open carry of handguns

By JIM VERTUNO

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Long depicted as the rootin'-tootin' capital of American gun culture, Texas is one of the few states with an outright ban on the open carry of handguns.

That could change in 2015, with the Republican-dominated Legislature and Gov.-elect Greg Abbott expected to push for expanded gun rights.

"If open carry is good enough for Massachusetts, it's good enough for the state of Texas," Abbott said the day after his election last month.

And if Texas, which allows concealed handguns, embraces open carry - rolling back a 140-year ban - it would be the largest state to have done so.

Open carry drew wide support in the 2014 statewide election, and at least six bills have already been filed for the upcoming session, which starts in January. Abbott has already pledged to sign one into law if sent to his desk."

For full story:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-14-14-41-08

Well, and as mentioned earlier, I sure hope THIS time it goes through. My only concern (also mentioned) is that it's the "free and unencumbered" OC if you will, meaning, it does not require one to have a TX CHL in order to exercise OC.

For now though, I'll still have to CC (using my CO CC permit) when I visit TX (as I usually do yearly during the Christmas season), but NEXT Christmas I hope that won't be necessary...and hope to see other OCers -- a newly-discovered "native Texas species" of OCers -- out & about down there.

If not, at least this "tourist" CO visitor will be OCing in TX (as I do here, spreading the OC gospel to whomever will listen)...when it's legal, of course!


Now...if we here in The Great State of Colorado can just get that sorry 15+ high-capacity magazine ban repealed I can get my Tapco 20-rd mags for my 2 SKSs...but that's another topic -- and another state! ;-)

qednick said:

Sweet! Now let's just hope they "oust" Strauss!

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This is the key hurdle for OC in Texas. Unfortunately, Texans can't resist the urge to vote for lawmakers who elect Straus to the Speakership. If Texans really wanted Straus out of the Speakership, they'd punish the lawmakers who vote for him. They keep not punishing those lawmakers. I'm not sure how Texas is going to get a different result if they won't act any different.

HPmatt said:

Too bad my wife's grandfather is not with us anymore - he or his law buddies would know exactly why and when this happened. He practiced law in El Paso - his senior partner knew Pancho Villa, John Wesley Hardin, Blackjack Pershing and anyone else of distinction that came through town back in the day.

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Clayton Cramers, "The Racist Roots of Gun Control" addresses the racist nature of gun control laws in this nation, including laws against concealed carry. I don't recall it speaking to Texas generally, but as part of the old Confederacy, I'd fully expect the article would apply generally.



Charles

MyWifeSaidYes said:

It SHOULD be like Vermont. If your gun ownership is legal, carry it anyway you want, open, concealed, in your car or taped to your face.

Criminalize ONLY criminal actions.

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It has been a while since I checked, so I'm certainly open to correction, but I recall that Vermont has a number of off limits locations (parks or wildlife refuges or something similar) that leave even Vermont with some room to improve.

I believe Alaska and Arizona are better in these regards while also having permit-free concealed carry, as well as permits for those who desire to legally carry into federal gun free school zones, or in other States that recognize those permits.

But if each State were to look at the respect other States pay to RKBA, and see that said respect hasn't caused problems, then every State would progress nicely. Vermont certainly lead the way on permit-free concealed carry. Utah has lead the way on protecting the ability of public school teachers/employees and adult students (as well as employees) at public colleges to effectively carry firearms for self-defense. Yes, permits are required. But we've not allowed school districts, principals, college board of trustees, etc to impose anti-gun policies nor anti-gun employment policies on those who do have permits. It is strong evidence that respecting RKBA (however imperfectly with permits) at schools and campuses doesn't lead to problems. Utah also imposes no restrictions on carrying into establishments that serve or sell alcohol. And ironically given our false reputation for being dry, we don't even prohibit imbibing while carrying. It is illegal to be intoxicated while carrying. But it is legal to have a drink while carrying.

Charles

VT has more serious problems, really: It went Progressive at least back in the early 1990s, so although it may be an example of SOME gun rights, all that other Progressive agenda liberal VT politicians and their supporting voters passed has ruined VT. Seems the people of VT WANT it that way...few conservatives there anymore I guess, or, they just let it happen.

Whatever, I had thought about moving to VT (partly to go to a university there) in the early 90s, but once discovering (sadly) it had gone Progressive, I crossed that state off my list. I then predicted other New England states would follow that liberal trend -- they did.

Nope...forget the NE area...go West, young man, go West.

...whether Horace Greeley actually said that or not, it's true in this case.

Dallas Senator Don Huffines video post re:2A

Glad we have Huffines in the State Senate, rabidly pro OC and Constitution OC. He's a buddy w Rand Paul. Don's hosted several events here in Dallas introducing Rand to Dallas $ and Libertarians.

https://vimeo.com/122771205