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PracticalTactical wrote:

74novaman wrote:

Charles L. Cotton wrote: When asked specifically if either the NRA or TSRA caused any delays, he said, "that's not beyond the realm of possibility" but he had no knowledge of it.

Chas.

So, sounds like staffers are letting people fill in their own blanks...Is this a "don't blame us, here's a hypothetical bogyman" situation? Very interesting response on his part. I guess if you were already bent towards blaming TSRA or NRA for all your woes, a statement like that could sound like "Its their fault, not ours".

ETA: Certainly not blaming Lavender for spreading rumors, just sounds to me like a staffer is covering his rear by leaving open possibilities other than "well, my boss didn't get it filed early enough to pass in this busy legislative session".

That was similar to my experience on the phone with the staff.

They would give all sorts of vague answers, and as soon as the questions got too pointed I'd get transferred to somebody else. The last lady I talked to at first would only commit to saying the NRA and TSRA were 'less than helpful'. She kept waffling and wouldn't give a straight yes or no on any question unless I'd ask it like three times.

Finally, I asked the pointed question of "Did the NRA and TSRA ask Mr. Lavender to delay his bill?"

I didn't get a yes or no, I got a long story about how they understand the importance of the other bills and how Mr. Lavender worked quietly on the bill at the beginning of the session drumming up support, or at least neutrality, from police groups. She said this was in anticipation of later support for the bill from TSRA and NRA. She also said this was a great victory for open carry for next session because in the past the OC crowd has been rowdy and turned people off but that this year it was a lot more classy.

So I asked again, "So are you saying the NRA and TSRA asked him to delay filing the bill until later with the promise of future support?"

Once again, no yes or no, but she said it was very frustrating that the NRA and TSRA didn't support the bill when they said they would and kept delaying support to a future hurdle once they'd overcome one.

Between all that was said, it seemed pretty clear that the story was true, but there was never a clear yes or no moment.

Typical politician stuff :)

Sounds to me like they wanted the TSRA or NRA to put their support behind their bill, but were frustrated when they failed to step up and wave their flags to try and get it pushed through.

Well, not taking a bill and running with it, when that bill has major issues, is not the same as sabotaging it. The TSRA has always said they had their priorities, and those primarily are Campus Carry and Parking Lot, as well as Range Protection. These bills are NOT past the need of help to support them and get them passed, so I fail to see how the TSRA did anything to the negative other than work on their priorities like they said they would do. When it came down to the zero hour, there was still work being done on the other bills, so unfortunately those of lower priority bills went lacking. And, I can tell you as a Manager for over 30 years at a large corporation, that if you try to tackle all of the projects and don't take the projects that are the most critical and have the best chances of being completed by deadline first, you will end up getting NONE of them done. This is the ONLY method that will work.

So, while unfortunately there are firearms related legislation that may end up not getting to the floor, there has been a much better movement this session than last. Parking Lots died in committee last session, and Campus Carry never really even got off the ground. And, as stated, Open Carry legislation got its feet wet for the first time this session and was at least introduced. So, little by little we gain ground back that has been taken away, and as such maybe Open Carry and other legislation will make their way to the top of the pile in due time.

And my thanks goes out to the TSRA and NRA for working to get as far as we have. The fight is not over on the bills still in the pool, so everyone keep making those calls and faxing those letters of support.

First off, welcome to the forum.

And, as you will see above, there are links into discussions on that topic posted by RPB.

The allegations are one person's supposed view of what happened. If you read the threads in the links above, these allegations are not true. The person posting them has been banned from several other forums, as well as here. He has a chip on his shoulder and is trying to blame the TSRA, NRA and in particular, this forum's owner Charles Cotton.

If you do a little research, you will find that Mr. Cotton has done more to help promote and regain our rights here in Texas than any other individual you can name. He has worked diligently to help both the TSRA and NRA lobby for our gun rights. He worked for over 10 years in pushing to get CHL in Texas, including helping craft wording and guidelines for the bills. No one IMO has done more positive things for firearms owners in Texas than Charles. And, he continues to work for our rights and freedoms.

So, after reading the threads above, you can make your own decisions on who did what, and I think you will see that Mr. Redneck's moniker if pretty well just what he is; a redneck bomb thrower. His posts are filled with grammatical and spelling errors, and he is just looking to stir trouble because the poorly written and designed bill he supposedly wrote (his words) did not get pushed through by the Legislators in the House. Had the bill been something that was ready for prime time here in Texas, there would have been a companion bill in the Senate as well, and there would have been major support for it. But as written, it is a very bad option as it has a major potential to do damage to concealed carry as well as squelching open carry in tons of places if passed.

Again, welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy it here!