TexasCHLforum.com

They announced their legislative plans for 2015 on their facebook page, post available here : " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Open Carry Texas wrote:Many have asked what our legislative efforts are this next session:

1) Repeal laws that infringe on our right to keep and BEAR arms: Constitutional Carry
2) Voluntary CHL, with the disqualifiers only limited to crimes in which guns were used and violent crimes.
3) Reduce cost of voluntary CHL to $20.
4) Clarifying the Disorderly Conduct law to protect regular, law abiding gun owners.
5) Increase the penalty for making a false 911 call. If someone is shot or killed as a result, the caller is charged with felony manslaughter.
6) Hold police officers accountable for shooting law abiding gun owners or violating their right to carry without justification.
7) Abolish the TABC code sections as they relate to possession of legal firearms on premises of TABC license holders.
8) State nullification of the federal Gun Free School Zone Act that places an unconstitutional 1000ft bubble around schools.
9) Strengthen pre-emption law and make it applicable to state agencies as well as municipalities.
10) Pass campus carry legislation.
11) Lower the age to possess a firearm and obtain a CHL to 18 years old.
12) Remove exemptions that allow politicians, attorneys, off-duty police officers and other state employees to legally carry a firearm where other law abiding citizens cannot.
13) Pass a law that makes the shooting of an unarmed citizen or animal by a police officer a crime and subject to the same charges any other citizen would face for doing the same.

A comment they made to the same post that I find interesting, and will hurt what little political capital they have is:

Open Carry Texas wrote:We are confident with about 98% certainty we're going to have open carry next year. Unfortunately, right now the odds are that our elected politicians are going to see dollar signs in that right and try to license it. If we only get licensed open carry next year, Open Carry Texas will file a lawsuit against the state.

I am posting this in the politics forum instead of the Open Carry forum because their goals as stated are far more than OC oriented.

1) How do you deny Felons, carrer criminals, and illegal Residents from Carrying?
8) is dead on Arrival, because Federal is supreme and cannot be nullified but by the US Congress.

Numbers 4 and 10 are NRA and TSRA issues and OCT knows it. Let's see how many of their other 11 items they can pass. Since they know that unlicensed open-carry is not going to pass, why wait; fill suit now.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:Numbers 4 and 10 are NRA and TSRA issues and OCT knows it.

Yes, but won't it be nice to have OCT helping out by showing up at committee hearings to insult legislators and provide quotes/soundbites to the media?

Bladed wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote:Numbers 4 and 10 are NRA and TSRA issues and OCT knows it.

Yes, but won't it be nice to have OCT helping out by showing up at committee hearings to insult legislators and provide quotes/soundbites to the media?

This and claiming to have done all the work so that the EVIL NRA and TSRA could claim credit when it passes, ala their new allies: NAGR and GOA.

Charles: I apologize should I fail to remain civil but where NAGR/GOA, and now OCT, are involved I tend to suffer from excessive dislike of lairs.

G.A. Heath wrote:

Bladed wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote:Numbers 4 and 10 are NRA and TSRA issues and OCT knows it.

Yes, but won't it be nice to have OCT helping out by showing up at committee hearings to insult legislators and provide quotes/soundbites to the media?

This and claiming to have done all the work so that the EVIL NRA and TSRA could claim credit when it passes, ala their new allies: NAGR and GOA.

Charles: I apologize should I fail to remain civil but where NAGR/GOA, and now OCT, are involved I tend to suffer from excessive dislike of lairs.

And I am specifically prejudiced against lairs of liars.

TAM, I posted that from my phone, and I could do nothing to fix it w/o autocorrect redoing it.

OCT, NAGR, and GOA all have a history of "distorting" the truth to fit their agenda. OCT does so in the quoted text by insinuating that Texas somehow forbids 18-20 year olds from possessing firearms. The prohibition is actually federal and applies only to FFLs selling handguns to under 21 buyers, but then again maybe they are talking about state nullification of federal law again...

There is a lot of fact distorting and truth bending done by OCT in order to try and reach their goals, some of it could be that they have no connection to reality but I suspect most of it is intentional.

# 12, good luck with that OCT.

Beiruty wrote:1) How do you deny Felons, carrer criminals, and illegal Residents from Carrying?

Other border states like NM and AZ have had unlicensed open carry for a long time without the BLOOD IN THE STREETS that opponents of OC in Texas keep touting. Maybe we could learn something from them.

tacticool wrote:

Beiruty wrote:1) How do you deny Felons, carrer criminals, and illegal Residents from Carrying?

Other border states like NM and AZ have had unlicensed open carry for a long time without the BLOOD IN THE STREETS that opponents of OC in Texas keep touting. Maybe we could learn something from them.

It's not OC that we have a problem with, it is OCT that is the problem. I would love to see OC passed. The problem from a political standpoint (and it's not getting passed without involving politics) is that OCT has shown itself to be a collection of politically naive bomb-throwers and bridge-burners who:

1. threaten and bully our allies, and
2. threaten to destroy all prior gains made if they can't get their way.

We are known by the company we keep. Serious, MATURE pro-gun voters and politicians don't want to be known by keeping that kind of company because we value our reputations. What's worse is that the crazies of OCT tarnish us all with misplaced guilt by association in the liberal media......because the crazies of OCT fulfill the left's worst fantasies about gun owners and what we stand for......and what we stand against.

If the issue before us was a RE-ratification of the 2nd Amendment, and the proposed amendment did not contain wording which specifically protected Open Carry in its "keep and bear arms" wording, OCT would overturn it as a limitation on the right to keep and bear arms.

They are that stupid.

Beiruty and I were talking about the legislative goal not the cult of personality. Other than that, great post.

tacticool wrote:Beiruty and I were talking about the legislative goal not the cult of personality. Other than that, great post.

Ah, my mistake. Sorry.

Quote from " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;:

Open Carry Texas We are confident with about 98% certainty we're going to have open carry next year. Unfortunately, right now the odds are that our elected politicians are going to see dollar signs in that right and try to license it. If we only get licensed open carry next year, Open Carry Texas will file a lawsuit against the state.

I'm not sure whether I should start with the fact that they think they can predict a bill's outcome with 98% certainty, the fact that they think the only thing standing between them and unlicensed open carry is greedy legislators trying to generate tax revenue, or the fact that they think threatening to sue the state somehow helps their cause.

Now OCT wants to oust the author of the 2013 campus carry bill: " onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

7) Abolish the TABC code sections as they relate to possession of legal firearms on premises of TABC license holders.

If I'm not misinterpreting this, you would like to have it legal to concealed carry in a bar or such? I must disagree by far. If you want a beer, you should leave your gun behind. Putting guns into a situation with people drinking, is never good. I nearly died because of somebody's inability to think and operate correctly, while handling a firearm. A bar isn't a place you need to go to, or have to visit on a daily basis, with few exceptions. I would like employees/staff to carry, that's it.

8) State nullification of the federal Gun Free School Zone Act that places an unconstitutional 1000ft bubble around schools.

I would like to see something done about that ridiculous law, but I doubt we 'll have any effect on the state level. I think it's wrong that those who live where a school is, or a school is is built near them, that they loose some of their rights!

10) Pass campus carry legislation.

11) Lower the age to possess a firearm and obtain a CHL to 18 years old.

You mean the age to purchase a firearm to 18? What prohibits a 18yr old to be in possession of a handgun? I don't remember any law about it, but it would be nice if 18 was the age across the board for guns and ammo. It was terrible back when I was under 21, to not be able to buy ammunition for my handgun my grandfather passed down to me. On a side note, I would like to see the age requirement for law enforcement jobs drop to 18 instead of 21. I know the negatives with all of this in the hands of younger people, but I know it was unfair to me that I was ineligible for for a job I could do, except for the fact that I was under 21.

12) Remove exemptions that allow politicians, attorneys, off-duty police officers and other state employees to legally carry a firearm where other law abiding citizens cannot.

Seriously, this again? Members of the court system and law enforcement SHOULD receive extra privileges on where they can carry. LEO's carry for a living, and held to a far higher standard when it comes to protecting others, and they deserve to protect themselves for the retaliation they may face for doing their jobs. Court members should in my opinion get similar protection. Most people don't spend their life trying to catch and put away bad people who would slit their through had they the chance. If you want to make things fair, work on making a CHL valid everywhere practical.

13) Pass a law that makes the shooting of an unarmed citizen or animal by a police officer a crime and subject to the same charges any other citizen would face for doing the same.

I hope this isn't going liberal now. It should be based on whether it was in an act of self defense or not. If an officer INTENTIONALLY shoots another person for any other reason than self defense, I think it could be subject to enhancement of the crime above a regular person due to their obligation to held at a higher standard. In self defense though, it shouldn't, because they're voluntarily putting themselves at risk for our protection, but they should be just in their actions, but shooting somebody because the point what looks like a gun at you, warrants justified self defense to me. And where is this crap about shooting animals coming from?!

If we only get licensed open carry next year, Open Carry Texas will file a lawsuit against the state.[\quote]
Seriously? I would prefer to have both CC and OC available, but I kinda prefer that it be licensed OC versus unlicensed. I have my own opinions, but I'd rather be asked to show my ID when. If open carry, then have it regular among people. I believe some minimal amount of marksmanship and safety trained is needed, just like CC. Having untrained and uneducated on use of force law people walking around with Glocks strapped to their belt scares me. I want it to be just as easier for people to get OC as possible, but we have to take public's well being into consideration as well.