Harris County Commissioners Court today ordered the removal of signs banning legally concealed handguns in county parks, after hearing legal advice that the county could not enforce such a ban.
County Attorney Mike Stafford's office told the court that the county has been violating state law by banning people with concealed handgun licenses from carrying their guns into parks.
A complaint from a resident who saw one of the signs while using a county park prompted the county attorney's office to look into whether it is legal to ban the guns, Stafford said.
"He was a concealed handgun carrier. He wasn't arrested," Stafford said. "His complaint eventually went up the line to us."
After state lawmakers authorized concealed handgun licenses in 1995, the county, other public entities and all property owners had the authority to ban handguns from their properties.
That changed for public entities in 2003, when the Legislature amended the concealed handgun law.
Governments are now prohibited from banning licensed concealed handgun owners from carrying guns on most public properties. The county can ban concealed handgun licensees from bringing guns to parks when high school, college or professional sporting events are held there.
Until now, the county has banned concealed handguns from its lands and buildings, including the County Administration Building on Preston...
Note that they have been knowingly breaking the law for three years. A lot of Texans talk about the firearms laws in CA and MA and act as if those laws could never be imposed here. I try to point out that it is too late, that restrictive firearms laws are already in place, and they may easily get worse. Heck, the Mayor of Dallas joined Bloomberg's anti gun group. We have a DA in Houston that refuses to acknowledge the intent of new statewide traveling laws as they pertain to unlicensed individuals with loaded handgun in their automobiles. Gun owning Texas voters should be able to easily get rid of politicians such as these and their supporters. The fact that they have not is a sad statement.
We have made some very good strides in the past couple legislative sessions, but we have to be even more vigilant as Bloomberg and Brady seem to be gaining some momentum recently.
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I seem to recall that Houston mayor Bill White has also joined the Mayors Against Guns Coalition, though I am not 100% sure on that...
Yes, both he and Laura Miller of Dallas are members of that coalition. David over at The War on Guns commented on these mayors and several of us emailed them from their web site. No one got a response.
When mayors of our major cities join groups like this, our liberties are endangered. At least Laura Miller has stated that she will not be running for mayor again.
No one got a response.
Not to defend these people, as I really think they should be more in touch with what's going on outside their little cocoons -- but I wouldn't be surprised if some of these mayors were part of this coalition because some morons on their respective staffs thought it sounded like a good idea, for positive PR. "Hey, how about this whole 'mayors against illegal guns' thing?" Bill White never really struck me as a gun-hater on the level of Bloomberg or Daley -- but then again, maybe he knows that bird just doesn't fly down here. I haven't seen this group get any coverage in the Houston Chronicle; the only way I found out White joined is by one of the gun blogs I read every day.
A quick email to the mayor would help determine just how supportive of Bloomberg he really is.
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