TexasCHLforum.com

SA-TX wrote:I am confident that Charles and the TSRA team can craft a bill that minimizes the chance of undesirable side effects.

Hold on now. I didn't write the bill last session. All I did was make it clear that 1) it was far too broad opening up virtually every section of the Government Code and relevant sections of the Penal Code to anti-gun amendments; and 2) we would be forced to kill the bill if a committee substitute didn't drop the amendments to TPC §30.06. There is no reason to believe I, TSRA or the NRA will be writing a bill in 2015. Rep. Lavender didn't ask us to do so last session and I have no indication he will this in 2015. Remember, I favor a two-session approach to protect prior gains, while everyone else wanting open-carry to pass want it done in one session, regardless of the risks.

Chas.

Hamourkiller wrote:In my opinion, the fear of open carry will go the way of the fear of concealed carry. It (concealed carry) was going to cause un-mitigated death and destruction. Blood would turn all of our rivers red! etc etc etc. Once concealed carry passed all the fear was shown to be vapors in the guts of liberals. Nothing changed as lawful citizens are lawful with or without a firearm. Same will be true if the firearm is concealed or on the hip.

It may well happen that any fear of open-carry would go away with time, if it has the opportunity. However, comparing open-carry to concealed-carry is faulty as concealed-carry has the out-of-sight-out-of-mind element in its favor that open-carry does not. Also, many folks who were not in Texas when concealed-carry passed in 1995, or who were too young to care, don't know how badly the business community reacted to concealed-carry. Ghost-buster "no gun" signs and decals were popping up on mom & pop shops in epidemic proportions and they were effective because TPC §30.06 was not created until HB2909 passed in 1997. Many of those now-ineffective decals that were posted between the summer of 1995 and September 1, 1997 are still on doors all over Texas. Were it not for TPC §30.06 and its "big ugly sign," the CHL program would have died in Texas not because it would have been repealed, but because relatively few people would have bothered to get a license. The prevailing thought would have been "why get a CHL if most of the places you frequent won't let you carry your handgun?"

Chas.

SA-TX wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

gringo pistolero wrote:

SA-TX wrote:All true but doesn't it raise a more important question: what's stopping an OC bill from becoming law next session? The likely gubernatorial nominees of BOTH parties support it (at least in theory by Davis's claim), the sitting Lt. Governor - and president of the Senate - supports it, as do those running for AG like Land Com. Patterson, and finally our sitting governor. Can it really still be that "controversial" now? Are we only lacking the support of the Speaker of the House? With the number of folks running for office who say they are pro-OC, you'd think it would be the first piece of legislation introduced and sail through both houses.

That would be a good test for how they really feel about the Second Amendment. Democrats and Republicans alike.

In my view it's only a test of how they really feel about open-carry. There are many very strong Second Amendment supporters who are either ambivalent about open-carry or out right opposed for fear it may negatively impact other Second Amendment rights. The OC crowd's attempt to make a person's position on open-carry a litmus test for how they feel about the Second Amendment has succeeded only within their own community. It's like saying "If you don't like a .45 Schofield revolver, you don't really support the Second Amendment."

Chas.

If I may return to the original observation - that the conditions to pass on OC bill seem to be quite favorable - and to the original question: what do we lack to succeed in the next Legislative session? Have all of the pronouncements of support changed the environment?

Thanks, SA-TX

The "original observation" was that Wendy Davis lied and said she supports open carry. There was no original question.

It's far too early to make any remotely accurate estimate of legislative support for open-carry. The people who have expressed support for open-carry can't even introduce a bill, much less get it passed. If Straus is Speaker and Pickett is Chairman of House Homeland Security & Public Safety, then the deck is still stacked against open-carry. Open-carry never got a vote because Straus and Pickett didn't want it to.

Chas.

gringo pistolero wrote:

SA-TX wrote:All true but doesn't it raise a more important question: what's stopping an OC bill from becoming law next session? The likely gubernatorial nominees of BOTH parties support it (at least in theory by Davis's claim), the sitting Lt. Governor - and president of the Senate - supports it, as do those running for AG like Land Com. Patterson, and finally our sitting governor. Can it really still be that "controversial" now? Are we only lacking the support of the Speaker of the House? With the number of folks running for office who say they are pro-OC, you'd think it would be the first piece of legislation introduced and sail through both houses.

That would be a good test for how they really feel about the Second Amendment. Democrats and Republicans alike.

In my view it's only a test of how they really feel about open-carry. There are many very strong Second Amendment supporters who are either ambivalent about open-carry or out right opposed for fear it may negatively impact other Second Amendment rights. The OC crowd's attempt to make a person's position on open-carry a litmus test for how they feel about the Second Amendment has succeeded only within their own community. It's like saying "If you don't like a .45 Schofield revolver, you don't really support the Second Amendment."

Chas.

Excaliber wrote:Wendy is flailing desperately as she watches her election chances sink beneath the waves.

Support for open carry is not a genuine position.

She's just trying to pick up gun owner support for something she'd maneuver into defeat if it was ever proposed.

Absolutely right. Plus, she is a documented, confessed liar, so her credibility concerning any campaign statement or position is nonexistent. If she " wants to safeguard gun rights 'for honest citizens'," then why as a member of Fort Worth City Council, did she try to keep gun shows out of Fort Worth? I was born at night Ms. Davis, but it wasn't last night.

Chas.