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Thank you for responding to my post. Please do not think I am being confrontational, the post you quoted is my first interaction with you or anyone else on this subject.

The OP (original poster) who started this thread and filed the complaint(s) apperently feels that a window in a foyer does not qualify as an office of the court, while you do. I do not know how a court would likely feel on the issue so my personal opinion does not matter. As for the confrontational manner the OP used, that would be for him to explain, and perhaps you to consider in how you percieved his initial contact. Please understand that we as a community do not try to be antogonistic except when there is no other option.

I have worked with my county commisioners court on this issue in the past and got results that worked for everyone. During our discussions I made it clear that I would report them had they posted but I also made it clear how we could work together. Even though we had approached the issue as adversaries we are all friendly and have rather friendly talks anytime we meet.

I do have an idea how you can help yourself and us as a community, I would ask you to consider the following:

While a mayor can not request an opinion from the Attorney General as far as I know, your county attorney can. Perhaps you could ask your county attorney (or another authorized party) in your official capacity as mayor to draft and submit a request for your specific situation. Should you prove successful in getting an opinion it would protect you from dealing with future complaints and help the gun rights movement know how the AG's office would likely deal with similar situations in the future.

Please let us know how you intend to proceed, provided that you can and all the best. Pehaps we should all do away with the us vs. them attitude and try to work together as Texans.

mrdavidturner wrote: ↑Fri Jun 28, 2019 4:26 pm

Mr. David Turner:

While I can neither confirm or deny that you are actually the David Turner that is the Mayor of Southmayd Texas it is my hope that you read this post. I hope you are here to observe, learn, and even participate in this fine community. While I am not part of the forum's administration I am a long term member and I feel that someone needs to reach out to you publicly and explain a few things.

First off, should you read the signs or even the statutes they reference you will notice that the signs only apply to holders of a license to carry a handgun, henceforth referred to as license holders.

Next you should be aware that license holders undergo a background check that includes criminal history, mental history, FBI fingerprint review, ect. A license holder can not have a class A or B misdemeanor in the last five years, and their license is automatically suspended should they be charged with one. A felony conviction is an automatic prohibition for a license holder and a felony charge suspends the license until it is revoked upon conviction or reinstated in the event that they are found not guilty or charges are dismissed.

The third thing you should consider is that in Texas the DPS tracks the crime stats of specific groups, including peace officers and license holders. The latter group commits crimes at a lower rate per capita than peace officers who are among the few that can carry into court rooms by default.

The fourth thing you should consider is that criminals are not bound by the signs posted nor would they care, unlike license holders.

Finally I personally find it to be highly insulting when you insinuate that I am a criminal in your letter when you wrote "if those signs were taken down that gives the criminals the right to carry guns into our courtroom area" in your letter. The only people those signs stop are license holders like myself and we already know that courtrooms are statutorily off limits per Texas Penal Code section 46.03. A criminal can not legally be a license holder and if you consider getting a speeding ticket to make one a criminal then I suggest you reconsider that position lest you find your own standard applied to yourself by a political opponent.

Perhaps a better option to posting 30.06 and 30.07 signs would be to replace those signs with one that has verbiage along the lines of "Pursuant to Texas Penal Code Chapter 46 the unlicensed possession of a handgun is prohibited." If you feel that a license holder might somehow not be familiar with Texas Penal Code 46.03 then you could post your 30.06 and 30.07 signs outside the actual court rooms and court offices.

Feel free to reply to this thread or message me if you would like to discuss this. I would strongly suggest that you message the owner of this forum, Charles L. Cotton, who has been very involved with Gun Rights to a very significant degree at both the National and Texas levels. Considering he is an attorney he can give you a much more detailed and thorough explanation. Please be patient with waiting for him to respond as he is very busy with a number of things but he is an honorable man and I personally think very highly of him.

One final suggestion, rather than look at this as an attack on your person, your city, and/or your signage I would hope that you to consider it an opportunity to learn the intricacies of this issue while being able to correct potential deficiencies and offering your citizens more appropriate signage.