Campus Carry Holdup

[O.F.Fascist]

Saw this on facebook from Students for Concealed Carry.

This is a good summary of what is going on in Texas--the Senate and the House are in a standoff, with the Senate refusing to pass House bills and the House refusing to pass Senate bills. In Texas, the SAME bill must pass through both chambers (meaning that a House bill must be passed by the Senate or that a Senate bill must be passed by the House) in order for an act to pass to the governor's desk.If you live in, have a permanent address in, or are the parent of a student who attends college in Texas, please call the office of House Speaker Joe Straus, and tell the person who answers the phone that you want to see Speaker Straus refer Senate Bill 11 (campus carry) to the Homeland Security Committee at his next available opportunity.
Speaker Joe Straus III - (512) 463-1000

Analysis: Legislative Dance Partners, Stepping on Toes | The Texas Tribune

I called and asked for SB 11 to be pushed forward. Not sure how much good it will do because Straus, but I tried.

[ELB]

If this is true, a big boot needs to be planted in a few strategic places, right now.

And if ANY gun bill is lost because the Senate and the House leaders could not play well together, ....

[TexasJohnBoy]

Greg Abbot - special session until you two children play nice.

[TresHuevos]

Greg Abbot - special session until you two children play nice.

Do you really think Abbot would do that? Even though he expressed support, campus carry wasn't one of his legislative priorities.

[TexasJohnBoy]

Absolutely not, I don't think he would. But I can dream some, can't I? :D

[joe817]

A question for Charles: Since you have a better sense of the "pulse beat" in Austin than most of us here do, can you comment on the progress, or the lack therof, of Campus Carry? And is a Call-to-Action justified at this point in time?

[Bladed]

This is pinned at the top of the Students for Concealed Carry Facebook page:

We need help to keep SCC's TV ad (" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) on the air in Texas.

Our members are great about donating their time, but in order to compete against the gun-control groups (http://is.gd/wjUeyU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, we need money to pay for airtime. Please consider making a donation to help Texas pave the way for campus carry. Every little bit helps!

Donate to Students for Concealed Carry

[Ivan244]

The issue, to my knowledge, is that Strauss is friends with UT prez...and the UT prez is against CC. Thus Strauss does his best to keep CC stuck in committee. The only workarounds is if Gov Abbott calls a special session for host of reasons and includes CC on the agenda thus circumventing Strauss. Or for gun owners to have someone else win in Republican primary in Strauss district, not good odds since Strauss is well entrenched. Third option is to have Strauss defeated in election for Speaker. Fourth option is scorched earth policy all gun owners band together and vote dems in office till the Republicans get the message.

From what I understand the new guard of Republicans is at odds with the established ones. In time the new guard will get the numbers to overcome the old guard and then changes will come. Just like any civil rights movement takes years/decades to get past entrenched politicians.

[CJD]

Fourth option is scorched earth policy all gun owners band together and vote dems in office till the Republicans get the message.

Please no

[clarionite]

Fourth option is scorched earth policy all gun owners band together and vote dems in office till the Republicans get the message.

This options seems sort of like the guy who wins a large amount in the lottery, and is upset about not getting the entire amount from the cashier at the gas station... So he tells them to give him his money back.

Voting in people who are against most of what you stand for, because another group won't give you all that you want... well, to me it's pretty severe.

I agree, Strauss needs to be dealt with. Voting for Democrats to run the show isn't the way to do that.

[oohrah]

for me, campus carry is an issue because I work on a campus, but not a big deal (because my private university has already indicated they will opt out), and it doesn't do much for most CHLers.

I would rather see our efforts going to support relaxing restrictions where everybody can carry.

[RHenriksen]

My girlfriend recently took her CHL class, and is waiting for DPS to process her application. She has another six months of classes at UH Central - we have both been crossing our fingers to see campus carry passed.

[The Annoyed Man]

The issue, to my knowledge, is that Strauss is friends with UT prez...and the UT prez is against CC. Thus Strauss does his best to keep CC stuck in committee. The only workarounds is if Gov Abbott calls a special session for host of reasons and includes CC on the agenda thus circumventing Strauss. Or for gun owners to have someone else win in Republican primary in Strauss district, not good odds since Strauss is well entrenched. Third option is to have Strauss defeated in election for Speaker. Fourth option is scorched earth policy all gun owners band together and vote dems in office till the Republicans get the message.

From what I understand the new guard of Republicans is at odds with the established ones. In time the new guard will get the numbers to overcome the old guard and then changes will come. Just like any civil rights movement takes years/decades to get past entrenched politicians.

Strauss's reelection to the Speakership this session was done on a record vote, for I believe the first time ever? The names of all the people who supported him (and those who didn't) are now available online and well known to any of their constituents who care. My own representative (Capriglione) voted for him, and I had words with him directly over it, by phone. In fact, HE called ME, after reading my email to him. In the end, he convinced me by rational argument why he thought that Strauss was the better choice, even though he acknowledged that Strauss's tactics sucked, particularly with regard to gun legislation. He said it was his own personal exchanges with Turner during sessions that convinced him that Turner was not qualified for the position of speaker, let alone for the position of representative.......stuff like Turner being confused and not even being aware of what they were voting on, or why. I have no idea if any of this is true or not. I'm just the messenger.

In any case, my representative is unapologetic about voting for Strauss this session, but as importantly, he is on record about it. None of Strauss's supporters for the Speakership can hide behind a veil of anonymity any longer. If Strauss's actions torque off enough voters from other districts, their representatives are going to hear about it from those voters, and his ability to abuse his power will be reduced by that much next time around.......perhaps reduced enough that he'll give up and let someone else carry the cudgel for a while.

That said, I think that Campus Carry is a necessary piece of legislation, and I hope it passes. My priorities this year - all at about the same degree of importance for me personally - are some form of OC, Campus Carry, and HB 308. I know that others place a higher degree of importance on HB 308 than on the other two, but for me, they're equally important. ALSO, even if we only get 1 or 2 out of 3 in this session, I think that whatever passes this year will grease the skids for the unpassed ones in the next legislature. As people become more and more used to expansion of gun rights, they'll become decreasingly less alarmed by the possibility of other pro-gun legislation passing.

[Ivan244]

TAM,

Thanks for the response. BTW to everyone reading the replies I am not advocating a scorched earth policy..much like a nuclear option only for last resort which we are far from. Back to TAM's point better to get a viable Speaker than someone who is not ready but lobbied hard by gun owners only to have it, pardon the pun, blow up in our face.

I agree that I would much rather have HB 308 passed than CC or OC. Takes time unfortunately

[O.F.Fascist]

All gun owners in Texas should contribute some funding to Strauss' opponent in the next primary and every one afterwards so that his elections will cost him some money instead of being freebies. Maybe eventually we will be lucky and kick him out or he will back off on stopping pro-gun legislation.