Do You Want to Make a Difference, or Just a Point?
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- Published on Tuesday, 10 February 2015 08:00
Remember what your Mom taught you about flies, honey and vinegar?
No issue in recent legislative history has generated as much emotion and acrimony as has open-carry. Generally speaking, there are three identifiable groups of people with a stake in the outcome of the legislative efforts to pass open-carry. Those groups will be identified, but it is necessary to first define the two different forms of open-carry legislation being considered in the 2015 Texas Legislative Session.
The History of Open-Carry Efforts in Texas
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- Published on Monday, 09 February 2015 08:00
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
If one where to believe all the hype, it would appear that there has been an ongoing battle to pass open-carry in many legislative sessions in Texas. This simply is not true, so let us look at what has transpired on this issue.
Pre-2009
There is an organization called OpenCarry.org that was formed to promote open-carry throughout the nation. Their website has separate sections for each state and some people in the Texas section started to push for open-carry in the Lone Star State.
SB124 by Sen. West: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
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- Published on Friday, 06 February 2015 08:00
Whenever an elected official contemplates filing a bill that would restrict a citizen’s right or ability to do something, or that would require a citizen to do something, the threshold question must be “what problem is this proposed new law going to fix?” If the answer is “none,” “I don’t know,” or “maybe . . .” then the bill should not be filed.
SB124 purports to make certain firearm transfers unlawful; it already is unlawful.
At its core, SB124 would make it unlawful to 1) “sell, rent, lease, loan or give a firearm” to anyone knowing that that person intends to use the firearm in a crime;
SB259: Sen. Ellis Wants DPS To Do What!?
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- Published on Thursday, 05 February 2015 08:00
Apparently Sen. Ellis thinks the Texas Dept. of Public Safety has too little to do and the Texas treasury is burdened with too much cash. Charles L. Cotton
Senator Rodney Ellis has filed SB259 that is mind-boggling in terms of its detrimental impact on the Texas Dept. of Public Safety workload and the financial burden it would impose on the State budget. To make matters worse, Sen. Ellis’ Bill would require the DPS to perform work that is already being done by federal agencies at no cost to the State of Texas. The bill deals with criminal background checks that are conducted when a person purchases a firearm from a licensed gun dealer.