If you're in the Dallas area

[baldeagle]

You might want to attend this:

Bill Metzger, who is our Dallas County Community College District Trustee, will join us for a town hall meeting to hear our opinions. The focus will be Concealed Carry on college campuses. Please mark your calendars for November 30th at 7PM. We will meet at La Prada Church of Christ located at 2724 La Prada Dr. in Mesquite. More details will come as we finalize plans.

[suthdj]

Will CC be allowed

[KC5AV]

Will CC be allowed

It looks like the meeting is in a church, so CC is legal, unless they post 30.06.

[Excaliber]

Keep the details coming.

Unless something imperative interferes, I plan to attend.

[cbucher]

I would like to attend this as well.

[Humanphibian]

will try to attend as well.

[MojoTexas]

I'd love to go but I plan on being out of town deer hunting on that day.

[baldeagle]

Here's an update on the meeting with more detail.

You're invited: Mesquite/Sunnyvale Tea Party is Hosting Speaker Bill Metzger

What do you know about the Conceal –Carry Laws and the facts as pertaining to College Campuses?

On Tuesday, November 30th, we will be hosting a town hall meeting with Bill Metzger (our Dallas County Community College District Trustee) to discuss the issue of Concealed Carry on College Campuses. Mr. Metzger wants to hear from his district members on this subject.

We will (1) receive information on the requirements for the Conceal- Carry license, (2) receive perspective and data from law enforcement, and (3) receive information from Rep. Joe Driver on the current climate concerning this issue in the Texas Legislature and the process that he expects will take place this coming session on the Concealed-Carry issue for colleges.

At the end, there will be time for questions/answers and input from you.
Location: La Prada Church of Christ, 2724 La Prada Dr., Mesquite, TX
Time: 7:00PM-8:30PM

[mikeintexas]

I'm planning on going to this meeting. It will be interesting to see what is said by all parties involved.

[sigma9]

I really wish I could make it to this but I have class. Oh well I hope someone posts about how it goes.

[wally775]

Things have cleared up for me and I will be attending.
Look forward to meeting some of the forum members and the information.

[baldeagle]

The meeting was interesting. Along with Rep. Joe Driver, Thomas Latham (sp?) was there. He is a longtime LEO as well as Garland City Council member and former state representative. There was a lot of discussion about CHLs and the reasons people carry and why we need campus carry. Bill Metzger, the DCCCD Trustee is very pro campus carry and is advocating for its support in DCCCD. Rep. Driver said they had the votes for campus carry last year but someone (who would not admit to it) held up the bill in the Calendar Committee. By the time it was brought to the floor, the Dems had started chubbing due to the Voter ID bill, and there wasn't any time to bring the bill to the floor for a vote. He said that you can help by getting your representative to agree to co-sponsor the bill. The more co-sponsors a bill has the more likely it is to pass, because the members realize it's inevitable.

The employee parking lot bill is more iffy, although he thinks it will pass as well. The problem is that some members lean toward private property rights over 2A rights. If your rep is leaning that way, you need to work hard to convince him or her to get behind the bill.

OC is less likely to pass, according to Driver. (I asked him about that privately, after the Q&A session had ended.) He said the NRA is not backing it, because they think it's important to get campus carry and employee parking lot bills passed this session. If they are, OC will be much easier to pass next session, according to Driver.

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot one thing. Rep. Driver said that he has been in touch with some Utah legislators, and it is likely that they will pass a bill that states that you cannot get a non-resident Utah CHL unless you already possess a CHL issued by your state of residence. This would obviate the need for the Texas legislature to pass something either enforcing TX CHL for Texas residents or revoking reciprocity for Utah licensees.

[C-dub]

That is a very encouraging report Baldeagle. Thank you for going! I can wait 2 more years for OC, but would really like campus carry and a parking lot law this session.

[wally775]

It was worth the trip and I have little to add to baldeagle's excellent report.

I did speak to Representative Driver and mentioned I could do without
the OC this year but ask him about eliminating any penalty for
unintentional exposure. He thought that might be possible and could be used as a bargaining tool. He actually made a note to remind himself.

One of the sponsors he mentioned was Representative Hagar. He is from Waller and
is well known to my in-laws. I will probably try and put in a word through that side of the family.
By show of hands there seemed to be about 15-20 CHL holders present.

I wish I would have had more time to meet some of the people from the forum.

[baldeagle]

A friend who attended the meeting asked me to post this. I post it verbatim, without comment, except to say that this report is much more detailed than mine.

-The focus was on Virginia Tech type incidents and using one's CHL to kill an active shooter for the benefit of the community at large. Two women pointed out rape and robbery personal protection concerns, one of whom was a panel speaker.

-Driver said that the freshman who filed Driver's bill did so without discussing it with Driver or Wentworth and has been sufficiently schooled in the ways of politics since then.

-Driver said that this year they're going to introduce several bills to create numerous moving targets and will hope that at least one gets through, if not all of them. One bill will address carrying on public colleges, one on vocational/trade school campuses, one on private campuses, one for faculty and staff carrying, etc. One will re-state the current law, allowing concealed carry on campus and allowing each school to decide for itself if they want to allow or restrict it.

-Driver said restrictions on hospitals, bars, and the like will remain as-is even if these are located on college campuses.

-Driver said that police frequently opposed the campus carry bill saying they had it all under control and had 7-10 minute response times, which later became them saying they had 5-7 minute response times. Latham said that when CHL was first passed that LEOs were opposed to it because they didn't have a way of knowing what the intentions are of the guy with a gun, but he's come to support CHLs because he realizes they're the good guys that LEOs don't have to worry about.

-Driver said that his campus carry bill will specifically require the CHL holder to hold a Texas CHL. Those with out-of-state permits that we recognize and have reciprocity with will be restricted because they might have less training than TX CHL holders have. Driver made comments saying he does not support states which have little to no training or examination requirements for their CHLs, specifically those that do not having shooting requirements which is something he is completely opposed to. Driver said in conversation afterward that he supports increasing the TX training requirements and thinks that's an inevitability, though not this session.

-Driver is encouraging Utah legislature friends who say they expect Utah to pass a law in the next legislative session that requires anyone getting a non-resident Utah CFP to have a resident permit from their own state first.

-Driver said in conversation afterward he is not comfortable with a woman who has an active stalker having a gun that only needs to be pointed and shot, saying it scared him because that would mean she had a bullet in the chamber.

-Driver said not to bother with form letters which are completely disregarded and encouraged people to call their rep, especially if they know any personally. Someone else said in conversation afterward that reps often look up a person's voting record and if the person isn't in their district and didn't vote then what they have to say is often discounted or disregarded, so voting was also recommended.

-Metzger said he received a bunch of flak for simply attending a meeting in which he was asking for feedback from his constituents. He said that he wanted to support the people and represent their desires, not his own. He said that several issues he had not considered were addressed at the meeting. He said that he's received messages from faculty/staff in DCCCD who are scared of retribution or who have been victims of retribution for publicly supporting concealed carry on campus.

-Comments: One person said his daughter's concern with CHL was if people with mental health issues are restricted if their mental health concerns will show up on a background check. An instructor said that it scared him that people attend his class and get a permit then never pick up a gun again and he therefore thinks ongoing training should be required. Several people told personal stories in which they were involved in or affected by active shooter rampages. One pointed out that the police do not have a responsibility to protect and the responsibility for protection is one's own. Some wanted to know how to support the legislative activities in process. Someone wanted to know the status of the employee and parking lot bills. Several voiced support and encouragement.