Okay, let’s dissect the last letter I saw on the thread of your fan club:
Mr. David Turner:
While I can neither confirm or deny that you are actually the David Turner that is the Mayor of Southmayd Texas it is my hope that you read this post. I hope you are here to observe, learn, and even participate in this fine community. While I am not part of the forum's administration I am a long term member and I feel that someone needs to reach out to you publicly and explain a few things.
I would hope to observe and learn a little more about why the contact was made in such a confrontational manner initially. I do understand that the rights of gun owners have been challenged and some city halls are placing signs in the manner as ours without regard to the AG opinion as well as the TSC and other court rulings on extraneous offices not being covered by 30.06/.07 signage.
First off, should you read the signs or even the statutes they reference you will notice that the signs only apply to holders of a license to carry a handgun, henceforth referred to as license holders.
Next you should be aware that license holders undergo a background check that includes criminal history, mental history, FBI fingerprint review, ect. A license holder can not have a class A or B misdemeanor in the last five years, and their license is automatically suspended should they be charged with one. A felony conviction is an automatic prohibition for a license holder and a felony charge suspends the license until it is revoked upon conviction or reinstated in the event that they are found not guilty or charges are dismissed.
The third thing you should consider is that in Texas the DPS tracks the crime stats of specific groups, including peace officers and license holders. The latter group commits crimes at a lower rate per capita than peace officers who are among the few that can carry into court rooms by default.
The fourth thing you should consider is that criminals are not bound by the signs posted nor would they care, unlike license holders.
Finally I personally find it to be highly insulting when you insinuate that I am a criminal in your letter when you wrote "if those signs were taken down that gives the criminals the right to carry guns into our courtroom area" in your letter. The only people those signs stop are license holders like myself and we already know that courtrooms are statutorily off limits per Texas Penal Code section 46.03. A criminal can not legally be a license holder and if you consider getting a speeding ticket to make one a criminal then I suggest you reconsider that position lest you find your own standard applied to yourself by a political opponent.
Perhaps a better option to posting 30.06 and 30.07 signs would be to replace those signs with one that has verbiage along the lines of "Pursuant to Texas Penal Code Chapter 46 the unlicensed possession of a handgun is prohibited." If you feel that a license holder might somehow not be familiar with Texas Penal Code 46.03 then you could post your 30.06 and 30.07 signs outside the actual court rooms and court offices.
I agree in part with what you are saying here, but please understand, if a person that is NOT an officer of the court is in possession of a weapon while in the court, the bailiff can readily identify that person as being in violation, therefore protecting all participants involved. Additionally, as stated by you, signs outside the actual court rooms and court offices are covered by statute. If you look closely at the photograph taken of the “bad city hall” posted on the forum, you will see through the double glass doors there is a service window. That window IS the office of the clerk collecting the fees and fines from the court. Also, through those glass doors, is the room where the judge holds his court. The building is small. It is not separated by long hallways, or multiple rooms divided into sections like the “good city hall”, I wish it were the case. Maybe one day, when the town grows, we can have a larger municipal building that can hold a more efficient body of offices serving the community with a separation allowing for avoidance of issues such as this. I have spoken to the judge, and he has invited you or someone from your group to come and see first hand the proximity of the court staff to the front entrance. Not as a challenge, not a debate, observation.
Feel free to reply to this thread or message me if you would like to discuss this. I would strongly suggest that you message the owner of this forum, Charles L. Cotton, who has been very involved with Gun Rights to a very significant degree at both the National and Texas levels. Considering he is an attorney he can give you a much more detailed and thorough explanation. Please be patient with waiting for him to respond as he is very busy with a number of things but he is an honorable man and I personally think very highly of him.
One final suggestion, rather than look at this as an attack on your person, your city, and/or your signage I would hope that you to consider it an opportunity to learn the intricacies of this issue while being able to correct potential deficiencies and offering your citizens more appropriate signage.
