imported post
Mike wrote:
Right - the counter to the TSRA position that no state has ever repealed open carry bans in recent history is that many states have de facto legalized it thru preemption in the last 5 years - VA, OH, and now maybe MO.
Fighting with TSRA isn't the answer. Tactics that work on some battlefields aren't as successful on others. Like it or not, TSRA has great influence in Austin. Some of it is well-deserved. Without them, we might not have ever gotten CHL legislation passed and would be at the bottom of the heap with IL (except that, technically, they have rural open carry). Nearly every legislative session since, CC has gotten better in Texas for them. Those achievements deserve recognition, respect, and thanks.
That doesn't mean I'm happy that open carry isn't a bigger priority for them. I'm not and I've made my voice heard. :cuss: I'm also working with them to try to remedy that for next session. They have their hands full with campus carry and parking lot carry as well as fighting off the usual bad bills that get introduced. I wish they would have added open carry to that mix but they didn't and we need to accept it. After these two high-priority initiatives are passed, CC will be better, yet again. Like many Texans, I have to choose between being disarmed or potentially fired every day that I drive to my employer’s property. :banghead: That TSRA will help to make that illegal is a great improvement.
I hope those who support open carry will keep the faith and adopt an approach more likely to be successful in Texas in the short run and that means making TSRA a partner, not a foe. As you all know, the hysteria over open carry makes our task tough on any day. Unnecessarily making an enemy out of another pro-2A group makes the task extremely difficult.
I am a member and supporter of both OpenCarry.org and the TSRA. I am because I want Texans to have the full 2A liberty that they deserve. Incrimentalism has been proven to be effective in restoring carry rights in Texas, though admittedly slower than I would like. I think we would be wise to follow that course. 50,000 signatures & the governor's support obviously isn't enough as we couldn't get a single member of Legislature (150 House members and 31 senators) to introduce open carry legislation at a time when parking lot carry passed the Senate without a single dissenting vote! Let's learn the right lesson from this. :lol:
In my opinion, the best way to achieve eventual open carry is through partnership with all who are our friends. They are naturally inclined to embrace freedom and simply have to be persuaded that this isn't some radical notion with a tiny base of support. Politicians are naturally cautious and risk-averse. We, the supporters of open carry,can easily meet this responsibility but we can't take the attitude that those who need to be convinced are idiots or enemies. They are the means to get from here to there and as such as extremely important and valuable.
The cold truth is that the number of hard-core open carry supporters IS tiny and even many (most?) CHL holders are ambivalent at best. We need to be able to convince legislators that the risk to them in restoring this freedom to all Texans is minimal. Bringing TSRA into the fold not only increases our "open carry base", but also let's law makers take comfort in working with their trusted partner on gun issues.
Let's make the 2011 session a more productive one for open carry than the 2009 session will probably prove to be. If we don't, we only have ourselves to blame. :X
SA-TX