imported post
This is my message to my state rep (TSRA and NRA "A+" Democrat). I sent a modified version (because we didn't speak personally) to my state senator, an "A" rated Republican.
(Rep),
I enjoyed speaking with you about changes for 2009 at the (event) this past summer. Now that the new session is just around the corner, I wanted to touch base again on the issues that matter to me.
In the 2009 Legislative Session, there will be many bills proposed to change Texas firearms laws, both good and bad. I would like to share my thoughts on a couple of subjects, even though the potential proposed bills aren't yet available for review.
First: campus carry. There is no good reason why licensed, law-abiding adults should be disarmed just because they pass through a doorway. Current Texas law allows legal, licensed, concealed carry on school grounds, but not in school buildings.
"School" is not defined in the statutes, and could theoretically include a beauty school, dance school, Sunday school, pre-K daycare, or karate school. This has to be clarified in the statutes. Or even better, just remove all statutory prohibitions on school carry by legal, licensed adults.
Most, perhaps all, public colleges and universities forbid students from possessing any firearms at all while on campus. Since they are political subdivisions and taxing authorities of the State of Texas, no public post-secondary institution should be able to violate our strong preemption laws and restrict carry on campus by students or employees.
(Private schools at all levels, as private property owners, should continue to be able to restrict guns however they see fit, but no private property should ever be statutorily off-limits except through trespass laws.)
I urge you to support expanding legal concealed carry to anywhere the licensee may legally be. Governor Perry, after the Virginia Tech murders, said that he supports the same thing.
Second: open carry. Texas is one of only six states that outlaw open carry of handguns. With the added pain of wearing a jacket or cover garment in Texas summers, this is needlessly burdensome on Texans who lawfully carry handguns. There is no good reason why an adult who can legally carry a handgun, should not be able to do so openly.
Long-standing statutes about "deadly conduct" adequately cover brandishing or threatening. A handgun that is holstered and openly worn on a citizen's hip is no more threatening than it would be if covered by a shirt or jacket. Nor, for that matter, than it would be if it was on the hip of a peace officer in plain clothes.
So, my general request for 2009 is expanded gun freedom. Specifically, fewer places off limits by statute (all public schools and universities, and all private property), and fewer restrictions on mode of carry.
If you would like to discuss these issues, please don't hesitate to contact me by mail, or by phone at (number).
Thanks for your time,
Kevin Craig
