TexasCHLforum.com

January 26, 2016

Dear Senate Committee on State Affairs Committee Members,

Today you held hearings on Texas gun laws, specifically SB 11 that authorized campus carry and HB 910 that addressed open carry in Texas. During the hearings a number of witnesses testified regarding various aspects of the laws as well as their impact on Texas citizens and students.

Two witnesses particularly interested me because they made statements before the committee that were at odds with the known evidence.

All of the following “statements” are paraphrases of their testimony unless enclosed in quotes.

Moms Demand Action, Texas Chapter Leader, Anna Kehde said that 72% of Texans in a recent survey said they didn’t think students should be able to bring guns into college classrooms and 66% said students should not be allowed to bring guns into dorms

Ms. Kehde is most likely citing this poll put out by Everytown for Gun Safety
It is a “push poll” that doesn’t even account for licensing or age. It simply asks if college students should be allowed to carry in classrooms and have guns in the dorms. It does not explain that only students over 21 would be able to do so and those students would have to be trained and licensed by the state. The survey may be found here: http: //www.scribd.com/doc/259083392/Everytown- ... carry-poll

This UT/Texas Tribune poll found dramatically different results: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/23/ ... tion-guns/
37% oppose campus carry, 26% support in approved places only and 25% support carrying anywhere. A majority, 51% support either unrestricted or approved carry on campuses.

Moms Demand Action representatives have been proven to provide false testimony in committee hearings during previous sessions, and Everytown’s “evidence” has been consistently debunked by researchers. Everytown is a gun control advocacy group funded by Michael Bloomberg that has a sordid history of misrepresenting facts. (C.f. http://bearingarms.com/firearms-dealer- ... us-report/, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government ... -t-happen/, http://www.whycampuscarry.com/opponents.html, http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter ... -hook-clo/ )

This appears to be yet another example of biased information being provided to legislators to buttress a position that is at odds with the evidence as well as the opinions of the majority of Texas citizens.

UT History Professor - Joan Neuberger, who represents UT Gun Free, made statements that are provably false. She stated that research shows that there is “no evidence” to suggest that a person with a concealed handgun could protect themselves from a deranged person entering a classroom. The research “seems to go in the opposite direction.”

In fact there is research that shows that not only is being armed in an active shooter situation capable of resolving the issue, but even being unarmed and resisting can resolve the situation before the police even arrive. An FBI study showed that “13% of the incidents were stopped by courageous unarmed citizens…NOT police” and another 4% were stopped by armed citizens. Because the majority of active shooter incidents take place in gun free zones where citizens are legally disarmed, the use of firearms in self defense is seldom available.

The study found that 69% of active shooter incidents end in five minutes or less. Yet the average police response time is 3 minutes plus time to assess and address. So for at least 60% of the incident, the intended victims are left to their own devices in their fight to survive.

http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/1 ... e-shooters

A 2014 study for the Police Executive Research Forum found that 50% of active shooter incidents ended before the police arrived, and 40% of those were resolved by armed and/or unarmed citizens on the scene. 25% were resolved by the police either by arresting or shooting the attacker. 60% of active shooters only had handguns, so a “battle” between an armed licensed citizen and an active shooter would not involve unequal use of force more than half the time.

Average length of time for an active shooter incident was 5 minutes. The average police response time was 3 minutes plus the time required to assess and address the situation.

http://www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/ ... 202014.pdf

I commend the legislature for resisting the temptation to create law based upon false information. Hopefully the data I have provided will assist in future efforts to better serve the citizens of this great state.



Sincerely,

Paul Schmehl, US Navy veteran and LTC holder

OK, here's the results of my research.

Moms Demand Action, Texas Chapter Leader - Anna Kehde stated that
72% of Texans in a recent survey said they didn’t think students should be able to bring guns into college classrooms
66% said students should not be allowed to bring guns into dorms

She’s most likely citing this poll put out by Everytown for Gun Safety
It’s a push poll that doesn’t even account for licensing or age
Everytown poll

This poll found dramatically different results
http://www.texastribune.org/2015/06/23/ ... tion-guns/
37% oppose campus carry
26% support in approved places only
25% support carrying anywhere

My conclusion? Push polls do not accurately reflect public sentiment and MDA is well known for providing false information to "buttress" their arguments.

Professor Neuberger claimed there was no evidence that being armed helped in an active shooter situation.

FBI study shows that “13% of the incidents were stopped by courageous unarmed citizens…NOT police” Another 4% were stopped by armed citizens, but the majority take place in gun free zones where citizens are legally disarmed.
69% of active shooter incidents end in five minutes or less. Average police response time is 3 minutes plus time to assess and address.

http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/1 ... e-shooters

50% of active shooter incidents end before the police arrive. 40% are resolved by armed and/or unarmed citizens on the scene before police arrive.
25% are resolved by police either by arresting or shooting the perpetrator
60% of active shooters only have handguns
Average time is 5 minutes. Average police response time is 3 minutes plus several minutes to assess and address the situation.

http://www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/ ... 202014.pdf

My conclusion? In an active shooter situation, do everything you can to prevent the shooter from getting to you. If confronted, shoot him and keep shooting until he stops moving. If you don't have a gun, grab whatever hard object you can and beat him senseless when he comes through the door.

Professor Neuberger claimed that there was no evidence that being armed helped prevent rape.

women who used non-forceful verbal JIAFM, 2007 - 29(4); ISSN: 0971-0973 101 strategies, e.g, crying or pleading with the assailant were raped about 96% of the time[4].

Zoncha-Jensen, J. M. & Coyne, A.(1993). The effect of resistance strategies on rape. American Journal of Public Health, 83(11), 1633-1634.

Running works even better than verbal resistance. Researches indicate that only 15% of women who attempted to flee were raped[6].

Bart, P. B. & O’Brien, P. H.(1985). Stopping Rape: Successful Survival Strategies. Elmsford, New Yard: Pergammon Press.

Women who used knives or guns in self-defence were raped less than 1% of the time. Defensive use of edged or projectile weapons reduced the rate of injury to statistical insignificance[7].

Kleck, G. & Sayles, S.(1990). Rape and resistance. Social Problems, 37(2), 149-162.

Logistic regression analysis revealed that most self-protection (SP) actions, both forceful and non-forceful, significantly reduce the risk of rape completions, and that the effects of SP actions on rape completion did not vary depending upon conditions such as whether the offender was a sexual intimate, whether the offender was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, whether there were multiple offenders, whether incidents This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. occurred at home, or at night. We did not find significant effects of specific SP actions on injury or serious injury, in part because injuries, particularly serious injuries, beyond rape itself, are rare.

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/211201.pdf

My conclusion? Teach your daughters to resist rape. Even yelling loudly is better than submitting meekly. Running away is very effective. Producing a weapon stops rape dead in its tracks.

Here's my notes on the hearing. I will be sending a response to the Committee Members. (I'll post the response here as well.)
I put times on the parts I thought people might want to listen to. Unless I use quotes, these are my paraphrases/interpretations of what was said by the witness. My bias is obvious.

Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs 1/26/2016

Witnesses:
Chancellor of the University of Houston System - Renu Khator
Chancellor of the University of Texas System - Admiral William McRaven
Chancellor of the University of North Texas System - Lee Jackson
Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System - Robert L. Duncan
Chancellor of the Texas State University System - Brian McCall
Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System - John Sharp

44:21
Chief Prosecutor for the Major Offenders Division of the Harris County DA’s Office - Justin Wood
Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, Office of the Attorney General - Brantley Starr
Chief, Texas Highway Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety - Lewis Gonzales
Assistant Director, Regulatory Services Division, Texas Department of Public Safety - RenEarl Bowie
There are nine people in the state of Texas that are 99 years old and have an LTC.
There are 35,000 people who are between 21 and 25 and have an LTC.

1:37:55
Texas Gun Sense - Andrea Brower
1.6% of qualified students have LTCs, that’s so small we shouldn’t have a problem discriminating against them

Open Carry Texas, Legislative Director - Rick Briscoe
Boring

Moms Demand Action, Texas Chapter Leader - Anna Kehde
72% of Texans in a recent survey said they didn’t think students should be able to bring guns into college classrooms
66% said students should not be allowed to bring guns into dorms
Thinks the fact that private universities are opting out proves that campus carry is unpopular at universities
Begged for allowing publics to decide where they can deny carry - cites Rep. Martinez-Fisher claimed the intent was to allow bans in classrooms and provide local control - Chairwoman objected strenuously

TSRA, Legislative Director - Alice Tripp
Great history of gun laws in Texas

2:31:55
Texas Central Gun Works, Owner - Michael Cargill
Gringo’s Mexican Kitchen, General Counsel - Alfred Flores

2:35:08
UT History Professor - Joan Neuberger
She represents UT Gun Free
Senator Nelson took “great exception” to her comments
Research shows that there is “no evidence” to suggest that a person with a concealed handgun could protect themselves from a deranged person entering a classroom. The research “seems to go in the opposite direction.”
There is “no evidence” that having a gun in a situation of rape is going to protect the individual and the evidence in that situation too seems to go in the opposite direction.”
It seems just as likely that the proliferation of guns puts women in more danger, because it puts more weapons in the hands of people who want to harm women.
The evidence goes against the safety of bringing guns onto campus.

Southwest Regional Directory, Students For Concealed Carry, Antonia Okafor
She was great, as always.

Papa_Tiger wrote:Will this be posted in the Senate archives? I'd love to hear what was said, but had too spotty a connection to be able to stream it.

I'm sure it will be, but it's not yet. (I checked.) Here's the page where you can access it once it's posted. http://www.senate.state.tx.us/avarchive/

I plan on taking good notes on what the antis claimed so I can refute their "statistics".

UPDATE: Here's the video: http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlay ... p_id=10840

Yeah, but Okafur was excellent, and Senator Nelson pretty much slapped the professor in the face.

Ms. Okafor, regional rep for Students for Campus Concealed Carry, is testifying. Right after the lying UT history professor.

Yay! Alice Tripp is testifying.

I am loving that the MDA and Gun Sense women are being forced to sit through listening to the OC Texas guy drone on and on and on.

b4aftr wrote:Oh how I wish I could have the last 15 or so minutes of my life back...

This too shall pass. And Huffman shut MDA down pretty decisively.

Good Lord! Now Moms Demand Action are testifying. Throwing out statistics like they're real. We all know how badly these people lie.

She is asking them to make universities opt-in. NO. Absolutely NO.

Great. A rep from Texas Gun Sense is testifying now.