Who is Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa?

[Charles L. Cotton]

There was a post about a month ago on OpenCarry.org concerning Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa's response to the limited changing of the 2/3 rule in the Texas Senate. This long-standing rule requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate to get a bill to the floor for debate, but a simple majority is sufficient to pass the bill, unless the constitution requires a 2/3 vote. Over many years, I've praised and cursed the 2/3 rule, depending upon whether it was one of our bills that was being blocked, or a gun control bill being blocked. It is safe to say that everyone in Texas politics has done the same. The poster on OpenCarry.org was concerned that Senator Hinojosa's position on the 2/3 rule may be some indicator of his position on open-carry. The sole responsive post states that "We don't need people like this in Texas" and "Vote this idiot out."

So to ease the OP's concerns about the Senator's position on issues important to gun owners (I dont' know about open-carry), and to give the responsive poster a little information about the "idiot" he wants voted out of office, I thought I'd give a little insight into Senator Hinojosa's efforts on behalf of gun owners.

First, a little demographic information. Senator Hinojosa, Chuy to his friends, is from south Texas and he is a Marine Corps combat veteran from the Vietnam war. He is a practicing attorney in McAllen (I think it's McAllen) and he has served in the Senate since being elected in 2002. Prior to that, he was a Member of the Texas House of Representatives for 17 years. He is a Democrat from South Texas with an A+ rating. I hope the significance of that doesn't escape anyone, so I'll say it again. Chuy is an A+ rated Senator from the Democrat stronghold in South Texas! His value to gun owners cannot be overstated.

Unless I'm mistaken, Senator Hinojosa has a 100% pro-gun voting record. He has carried several bills for us, including HB1815, the Motorist Protection Act (a/k/a car-carry bill), in the Senate in 2007. In fact, he was responsible for getting HB1815 on the uncontested calendar in the Senate on the last day House bills could be passed. Time was running out and being on the uncontested docket with numerous other bills meant the car-carry bill was never even debated on the Senate floor!! But this isn't the end of the story. Any one Senator can remove any bill from the uncontested calendar and force a debate. At the time HB1815 came up in the Senate, there wasn't time for a debate, so it was critical that it stayed on the uncontested calendar.

The only people that were a real threat to remove HB1815 from the uncontested calendar were Senator Hinojosa's follow Democrats. Chuy proved his loyalty to gun owners by going to his Democrat colleges and letting him know this bill was very important to him and that he did not want it killed! It worked. No one removed HB1815 from the uncontested calendar, so the Motorist Protection Act passed giving Texans unrestricted unlicensed car-carry for the first time since 1876.

This isn't the only pro-gun bill Senator Hinojosa has worked hard to pass, it just happens to be the most recent and perhaps one of the more far-reaching in its impact on Texans. He has just filed the Senate version of HB410 that will repeal the requirement to show a CHL to a LEO.

So the next time you hear a call to "vote the idiot out," take a few moments to remember who we are talking about and what Senator Hinojosa has meant to Texas gun owners.

Chas.

[KD5NRH]

Unless I'm mistaken, Senator Hinojosa has a 100% pro-gun voting record.

Well, that took all of three minutes to check on Google:
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_c ... =9&go.y=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's gone from a B- to an A+. Not exactly 100%.

And Texans for Fiscal Responsibility don't seem to be very impressed with him, either. Guns don't help if you're taxed to the point that you can't afford to keep them.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Unless I'm mistaken, Senator Hinojosa has a 100% pro-gun voting record.

Well, that took all of three minutes to check on Google:
http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_c ... =9&go.y=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's gone from a B- to an A+. Not exactly 100%.

And Texans for Fiscal Responsibility don't seem to be very impressed with him, either. Guns don't help if you're taxed to the point that you can't afford to keep them.

I should have been more specific; he has a 100% voting record the entire time he has been in the Senate. I don't care one whit what Texans for Fiscal Responsibility has to say when it comes to TexasCHLForum; this is a gun board. Take your tax arguments to a tax forum. Their opinion also doesn't change the facts about him getting the Motorist Protection Act passed or the other work he has done on gun issues.

Chas.