TexasCHLforum.com

MeMelYup wrote:Maybe he is caught between a political rock and hard place. It's possibly a case of you scratch our backs and we will scratch yours.

I believe this to be the case. When I called his office to emphatically and politely express my displeasure, the very nice lady in the office commented that he had been asked by other officials to do this.

I do find it a bit ironic (or ironical, as we say in south Austin) that even though it was primarily an assault on a Federal elected official which seems to have inspired this bill, Federal elected officials were not even included among those who might be covered by the bill.

Tamie wrote:

CWOOD wrote:I suggest we take a page from our conflict resolution training and address the issue on an ADULT-ADULT basis and simply agree to disagree on this particular issue.

I agree, as long as we can be adult and not oppose people who mobilize votes against any legislators who think public officials should get the big slice of the pie (HB 1463) while the voters and taxpayers settle for crumbs in the parking lot.

On the other hand, if the bill is left pending in committee, it sounds like he's listening to our concerns. Whether or not he changed his mind, we should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Looking at statistics, the truth is politicians are not in any greater danger than students who take night classes or waitresses who work closing shift at a bar.

Crumbs? CRUMBS? CRUMBS?

Sir, surely you jest. Passage of the parking lot bill would be of tremendous benefit to potentially hundreds of thousands of our fellow Texans, both CHLers and MPA citizens. I would not characterize that as "crumbs" since many have worked, and are working, so hard to achieve it and so many of us have waited and hoped a long time for it. If it were only "crumbs", why in heaven's name are we even bothering with it?

While I can certainly appreciate your oh so clever use of sarcasm, nowhere did I even hint that I wanted anyone to "not oppose people who mobilize votes against any legislators who think public officials should get the big slice of the pie (HB 1463) while the voters and taxpayers settle for crumbs in the parking lot."

Obviously my ADULT-ADULT proposal was not your cup of tea. That is fine.

On a very practical level I AM suggesting that if we vote out ANY legislator who fails to agree with us on EVERY item, then all that would be left would be legislators who agree with us on almost nothing. Then we would not even have to worry about "crumbs" because there certainly would not be any.

Express your displeasure. Do so emphatically. One can do this and still be polite and still recognize and appreciate other work done on our behalf.

Charles is absolutely correct on this.

I was one of the early posters after hearing of it and talking to his office to express my disapproval.

I believe that the Rep. Kleinschmitt is WRONG on this particular bill. He is not BAD, or UNPRINCIPLED, or ENEMY.

My spouse and my children have been wrong on more than one occasion. I still love them more than life. There is an unfortunate rumor going around the circles I frequent that even I have been wrong on at least one occasion, but I still seem to be generally well regarded in those same circles.

I suggest we take a page from our conflict resolution training and address the issue on an ADULT-ADULT basis and simply agree to disagree on this particular issue. Let us do what we must to respectfully express our difference of opinion with him on this matter and still maintain regard for someone who is doing and has done yeoman's work on our behalf on several occasions.

hirundo82 wrote:Since this thread seems to be gaining traction, I'll post this here instead of making a new thread.

There was another of these bills giving government officials special carry privileges filed today, HB 1530. This one exempts members of the commisioners court from the §46.035(c) prohibition on carrying at meeting of government entities. Side note: I'm not familiar with local Texas governmental structure having not grown up here--commissioners court wouldn't qualify as "the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court" per §46.03?

This makes 3 bills exempting government officials from different sections of the Texas carry laws (the third being HB 598, exempting school board members and school administrators attending school board meetings). I really don't like this trend, and I'm wondering why it is happening this year--I've been following CHL bills for the last couple of legislative sessions and don't remember these kind of bills being filed before, and a quick glance over the CHL bills for the 79th and 80th legislative sessions doesn't reveal any.

Just a small correction.
The offending bill regarding the carrying of handguns by school board members and administrators at school board meetings is actually HB698. Your link was to the correct bill but the text of the post refers to HB598.

Thank you for bringing this important info to our attention.

I am not in his district, but I just emailed him and followed it up with a call to his office.

I ENCOURAGE ALL TO DO THE SAME. IT WILL HAVE AN EFFECT. BE POLITE AS THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY

The basics of my communications with his office and email is that this smacks of an extraordinarily elitest measure and that the lives of my daughters, aged 25 and 27, and me and the rest of my family are no less important or worthy of protection this is his life.

I said that should he include all CHL's in the legislation, I would march in the street and testify in committee in his support and encourage my representatives to do likewise. He would be a hero of all CHL's in the state.

On the other hand, should he persist in this elitist measure I would march in the street and testify in committee in strong opposition to him and encourage my representatives to do likewise.

The very courteous person at his office, Brandy, took my contact info and promised to relay my comments and get back with me within the week. I also asked her to thank Rep. Kleinschmidt of his impressive past efforts on behalf of CHL's, and that I wanted to make them aware of how this is being perceived before damage was done to his reputation.

Her comments were that he had been approached as a result of the Arizona shootings and that some elected officials felt unsafe in certain locations. I again mentioned that my young daughters occasionally feel uncomfortable when they are required to disarm. NOT FAIR---NO EXCUSE