yep.Charles L. Cotton wrote:You could not be more wrong! OCT/OCTC and the other bomb-throwers are the reason we are burning through so much political capital to pass open-carry. It won't pass because of them, but in spite of them. NRA had open-carry in our candidate questionnaire which sends a signal that it is a flagship issue. We started working on open-cary before the end of the 2013 legislative session quietly and effectively laying the foundation for passing it in 2015. We are the reason there was an off-season legislative Interim Study on open-carry. That too is a signal to legislators. (Unfortunately, some of the people who showed up did more damage.) If the open-carry zealots had heeded warnings that their tactics were hurting the issue and stayed out of the media, licensed open-carry would have passed with far less effort. But no, they were far more concerned with staying in the public eye than in passing open-carry. Their leaders committed the cardinal sin of politics, they put their own fame and egos ahead of the issue. Every time they did more damage in the media/public eye, it costs us more political capital to repair that damage.Jason K wrote:. . . .but two issues that got picked up by some very loud, vocal groups working outside of the NRA and TSRA and in the media spotlight have got a pretty good chance of passing in just a couple of legislative sessions.Charles L. Cotton wrote:Exactly right!! So much political capital was spent on how we can carry (open-carry) as opposed to where we can carry (everywhere) that HB308 will not pass. That's a crying shame as it impacts 840,000+ CHLs in a manner that increases personal safety. Unfortunately, that argument has fallen on deaf ears. Not one life will be saved by open-carry, but how many people will be robbed, assaulted, raped or murdered walking between their cars and a location that is statutorily off-limits? Yeah, I'm bitter, very bitter!cowhow wrote:Not seeing any movement on this bill. I'm afraid it got lost in all the furor about campus carry and open carry.
Chas.
HB308 (CHL everywhere) is my issue and one I have promoted for 10 years. It is not and never has been an NRA or TSRA issue, so neither organization "has been working on for several sessions behind the scenes quietly" but failing to pass it. It will take a lot of effort and political capital to pass and there's only so much to go around in any given legislative session. Both of your contentions are wrong: 1) OCT has not been able to pass open-carry; and 2) the NRA has not failed to pass "CHL everywhere." I'm sure you and OCT will claim claim otherwise, but if OCT were as effective as you would have us believe, then why is it that so-called "constitutional carry" Bills (SB342/HB195) didn't even get a public hearing? Both Bills were DOA because OCT/OCTC and other bomb-throwers cannot get anything passed. They are now trying to make it appear that they support licensed open-carry so they can falsely claim to have had a victory in 2015.
Chas.
I would've like to have seen this bill (HB 308) as primary (it incorporates campus carry) and with it as a separate bill OC that could've limited campus carry to CC