TexasCHLforum.com

ScottDLS wrote:

sbrawley wrote:The public lobby at the Harris County Sheriff's processing center is now posted with a big red ugly 30.06 sign. This is on the public side where there is no access to the secure side.

I suggest open carrying in there...if you're willing to risk "the ride". The rid should be short since you're already at the Sheriff's office.

Perhaps it is just me, but I don't high expectations of getting a fair trial on a gun issue in Harris County......or Travis County. The presence of the sign in the first place tells me their regard for the law.

I had the opportunity to attend a meeting last night where the speaker was Attorney General Paxton. We could write down questions for him.

Here was mine.

What does the 2017 Legislature need to do to deal with the government entities that continue to prohibit licensed carry even after the "fines for signs" legislation passed

The person asking all of the questions just happened to be an LTC instructor and embellished my question with his own information.

General Paxton first laughed and talked about his surprise to find out that his office had been tagged with enforcement for the fines for signs. He thanked Donna Campbell for doing that. It was obviously a humorous lead in to what he wanted to say. He said that he had the concern about the inappropriate actions of governments against CHL/LTC while he was still in the Legislature himself.

He said that he felt much could be accomplished by simply tightening up a few definitions. He did not elaborate on exactly which ones or how many of them there were. I was pleased to hear his advocacy for the concept, even if his office has not been as vigorous in that as some of us might have wished.

I was surprised by the depth of his activities. I hadn't realized that his office has 4,200 employees. I also didn't realize that his largest duty was the collection and distribution of child support payments. He talked about how much he was spending on that activity versus other States and how Texas compares with NY in that regard. He also talked in fairly significant detail about the number of times his office has sued the Federal government and the collaboration among the States in those suits. Given all of that, he talked about his office going out to individual court houses to try to determine the situation regarding posting of 30.06 signs.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything comes out of the current session. General Paxton was firm against LTC carry in court houses so I'm not sure exactly what path is open for situations like the one that I faced again yesterday at the Precinct 3 building for Denton County in Lewisville.

The musical group claims that the sign was in front of the doors before they arrived. They also said that they tried to touch as few things as possible in the room during the concert as possible. I will contact Frisco in writing.

MeMelYup wrote: Did you take pictures. I ask this because I see gun shows still exhibiting 30.06 signs on county owned property. The people who sponsored the concert might have displayed the sign, and like at the gun shows it is a recurring event.

I did take a picture. Based on the way that the group acted, they were just using the space and did not really control it. But that is worthy of a follow u[ with them. Perhaps they found the sign inside and put it in the lobby. I have not doubt that the sign belongs to the City, not the group.

I think that I will call the City and contact the group before going further. It is my intent to highlight the use of the sign on a recurring event there. I will file with the AGs office.

I attended a musical concert in the main Frisco CIty Hall this evening. I was surprised to find a 30.06 sign just outside the door but then realized that the concert was being held in the council chambers. I took a picture of the sign and plan to write to the city manager about its presence for a non-city meeting event. Before I do, I want to confirm my understanding that it is the event (meeting) that is prohibited for CC and not the room in which the meeting could be held.

The sign is on a plastic "bread board" type of arrangement that appears like it would be easy to fold and store. I'm hoping that its presence this evening was just an oversight. There are more concerts by this same group in this same room in 2016. I'm hoping that I don't have to make trips back to the car for those.

Keith B wrote: Yeah, but they could also end up with a wrongful arrest lawsuit on thier hands. Bottom line, they have to obey the law just like anyone else and if they don't there can be consequences for them too.

I don't see how this could work. Let's suppose that I were willing to be the test case (I'm not.) I strap on and walk past the 30.06 sign at Grapefest days in Grapevine. I'd have to do something to draw the attention of the an LEO. If I did, I'd expect to go down the "intentional failure to conceal" route and completely by-pass the sign problem, even if all I did was verbally talk to an officer about carrying my gun.

The only way that I could see to specifically address the sign would be to take pictures of it and then file suit against the city. I'm guessing that the city attorney has already thought about that and is willing to take the risk of that happening. Same for Irving. I suspect that the outcome of a suit would be for the judge to tell the city that they did the wrong thing and not to do it again. And then the suit could be filed again the next year when (not if) they did it again. That is a pretty expensive process for very little gain. How am I seeing it wrong?