flintknapper wrote:Open carry had the Huffines amendment removed in conference committee, now will head back to both houses for votes possibly as soon as Friday.
^^^^^^^^^ Shame too...IMO it was a good amendment. Yes...I know some will argue 'not necessary', or redundant, but the plain fact that LEO (not necessarily the rank and file) are so vehemently opposed to it...tells me right up front, it was needed.
IF O/C fails, they will need to accept a healthy part of the blame. If it passes...it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, that the amendment was stripped.
IF the amendment was somehow perceived as 'insulting' to LEO then a lot of LEO need to grow up. They must also find the 4th amendment 'insulting'. The 4th was NOT written for the benefit of the police, but for the people.
I support LEO as much as anyone, but I fail to see how this would have been a problem for them.
Flint.
I'm happy to get the bill passed with or without the Amendment. My objection isn't the amendment, it's that the wrangling over it nearly cost us the bill. In my book, 95% of what I wanted is better than 0% of what I wanted. If that last 5% threatens passage, then the only
smart thing to do (politically) is to pass the 95% bill, and get the rest of it in followup sessions, just like we've done with CHL as I pointed out in a previous post. I agree that it is a 4th Amendment issue.....but.....it is also a 2nd Amendment issue. If politics is the art of the possible, then maybe the Amendment wasn't possible
today, but it might be possible in 2 years. In the meantime, we would have had open carry for the previous 2 years.
That is the measured approach that makes for
steady and long-lasting progress. Passage with the amendment is OK, but passage without it is OK too until the day when a 4th Amendment protection upgrade can be added. An inexperience politician nearly wrecked that.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT