Lawmakers lean toward licensed open carry in face of video ultimatum
Although he may be referring to just the constitutional carry bill, I suspect he means any open carry bill.Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, is one of the 11 co-sponsors on Estes' bill and sits on State Affairs. He said Thursday he does not think Watkins' actions have killed the chances for some form of open carry to pass this session.
"I don't think it hurts the overall effort because we, as legislators, are very accustomed to advocates coming into this building and being very passionate," said Creighton, who thinks open carry licenses should be optional, but available for those Texans who want to carry proof of their right under state law. "It's unfortunate that some of those advocates resort to the language and tactics that they use, but, ultimately, I don't think much about it."
Nevarez disagreed.
"It's obscene," he said of Watkins' video. "How do you proceed to evaluate a bill when you're being threatened like that? It shouldn't even come up for discussion now."