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Charles L. Cotton wrote:

treadlightly wrote:When did you email TSRA? What exactly was the response?

Chas.

Charles, I emailed TSRA late yesterday and found a nice response from Ms. Tripp this morning.

When I get back to my office I'll pm you.

I should add she was most respectful of the eminent Mr. Cotton's efforts.

I emailed TSRA about this, and got a nice reply. HB560 is old legislation that has never gotten any support.

My wild guess is that legislators must look at HB560 as going too far, and CC is just eliminating government prejudice against the unlicensed.

My wild guess. TSRA didn't say that, I'm just trying to figure out the reasoning.

Edited to add: I am going to sign up for TSRA. I may not agree with them on this point of strategy and timing, but I think overall they do a lot of good.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:I would love to say so much more folks, but this is a public forum and I simply cannot expound on the situation. We need to fight hard for some very important gun bills we have filed. Clarifying "school activity grounds," exempting volunteer church security teams from the Occupations Code, dramatically lowering the LTC fee and several more improvements deserve our full support. We need to be strong in our opposition to anti-gun bills. We cannot let our anger at the death of HB560 yet again destroy our impact on Texas gun laws overall.

I will say this much. I'm a good soldier, but I cannot control everything, everyone or every organization. Immediately after this session is over, I will announce a new effort. I've outlined a comprehensive bill dealing with the carrying of handguns with and without a license in terms of license requirements, eligibility, off-limits areas, self-defense and more. When time permits, I will draft this comprehensive bill and when the session is over, I will launch this entirely new program. If we have a massive response it will be successful, otherwise, it will fail. It's that simple. Unfortunately, among the gun community as everywhere else in life, less than 10% of a group carry the load for everyone else. Only time will tell how many Texas gun owners are serious about sweeping changes to our gun laws.

Chas.

Looking forward to the new effort announcement. If it's in my ability, I'd like to help.

I called Springer's office this morning and asked if the bill was dead. After a short pause, the staffer said, "Probably."

Then she went on to say they had heard it would get a public hearing, I believe she said on Tuesday.

My guess is it's dead, the coroner has other things on his mind and will eventually get around to signing the death certificate.

Austin has a church-based illegal alien sanctuary network that leverages federal reluctance to raid churches. Maybe someday we could try trusting by default the law abiding citizen, and distrusting by default those who break the law.

I know. I'm a dreamer without a dream act.

Bonnen has now signed on as a co-author. I'm not sure exactly what co-authors really are, or what sponsors do, but it seems shameful it took this long for anyone else to step up to the plate.

I called my Representative, Kacal, and learned he's not supporting most legislation until it gets to the House floor.

He's on the Calendars committee, working for all of us I'm quite certain, so he's going to take a lofty hands-off approach to legislation proffered by his lessers.

Lovely.

I had some fun today. I called several Representatives and told them my Representative, Kacal, needs some help.

I explained he's a good man, bless his heart, and he really has his constituents' best interests foremost. The poor guy just can't risk schoolyard bullies like Strauss.

By this time I was getting giggles. I continued, describing what HB560 was and saying Kacal knows supporting HB560 is the right thing, but, you know Kyle, it's not going to happen unless HB560 becomes a safe space.

Please, I asked, join up with the HB560 movement. There are a lot of timid Representatives who will jump right in just as soon as they don't have to be leaders.

Each of the staffers I called asked questions of me. I told them the point wasn't to meet violence with violence, the point was to toughen the fabric of society in general. It doesn't matter if I - or they - carry a gun to the grocery store, it's important that the grocery store not be a gun free zone. For that to happen, somebody needs to lawfully, respectfully, discretely, safely show up with a firearm.

License holders in Texas are the perfect bunch to do the job because they are so wonderfully law abiding, good people.

On the other hand, when gun free zones proliferate, these good strong folks who could tilt the odds away from criminals have to decide. Do they want to constantly arm and disarm, constantly abandoning their guns unattended in parking lots, or do they just give up and stop carrying the guns that could yield some defense against those who would terrorize our streets?

Of course, the only way to know if you're making headway with a politician is when you feel his hand in your hip pocket. Me, poor as a church mouse, I never get that feeling of power.

No sponsors or co-authors yet, either, for HB560.

Very frustrating that no other members have the guts to stand up for something that's the right thing to do.

HB 560 needs to start showing signs of life.

casp625 wrote:

twomillenium wrote: Read an article back in 2010 that stated 22 states allow firearms in bars, which I'm assuming means at least 50% of states allow it. (snip)

I hope they don't judge LTC's by math skill. 22 out of 50 is not at least 50%. I could be just me tho.

Well, in six years three more states might well have allowed it. I think that's what he meant.

All I know is there is no harm in allowing me to carry anywhere, and there's nothing special about me. I have lots of company.

Man, that looks nice, but here's the question - what kind of nutcases will this bring out of the woodwork to make us all look like buffoons?

Removing the 51% restriction might sound like gun carriers want to get drunk and shoot the empties. Personally, I'd like to go to the best burger shack in town without disarming. It's a bar that defies certain prejudicial prototypes. It's motorcycle themed and quite family safe and friendly. The second time I went I saw a 51% sign and was surprised. It didn't seem like a place that should be off limits.

But I hate to think of theatrics on the State House steps, or drama queens in the legislative chambers gaining traction with blood-in-the-gutters fear mongering.