Texas Firearm Legislation Update

It has been a busy end of the week so far as pending gun laws in Texas are concerned. With all the federal and local gun legislation being submitted, I finally had to break down and sign on with one of the internet fax services to get all my faxing accomplished quickly and without breaking the bank.

First we have the two major anti gun bills that have been submitted to the Texas State Legislature by Representative Yvonne Davis. House Bills 594 and 595. HB 594 is titled "An act Relating to the creation of certain offenses concerning firearm sales at gun shows" and I commented upon it here. HB 595 is titled "Relating to requiring a waiting period for the purchase or sale of a handgun; creating an offense" and I commented upon it here.

Both of these bills are currently in the House Committee on Law Enforcement. As neither one of these bills has a single co-sponsor, I did not expect them to gain much traction. But, the Brady Bunch have been busy. It seems that the anti's have done a pretty good job of organizing their phone/fax trees and have bombarded members of the committee with faxes and phone calls. Now there are members of the committee pressing to release these bills for public hearings. A public hearing on these bills would be a waste of time and our tax dollars. Bills with no sponsors will not be passed and all public hearing will accomplish is to give the anti's a soapbox to stand upon and create sound bites for the evening news.

If you are a Texan, take a minute and contact the members of the House Committee on Law Enforcement and let them know your view on these two bills. We need to counter the efforts of the antis. Remember to be respectful and not-threatening, this committee is pretty much gun friendly, Chairman Driver is the author of the Castle Doctrine Bill that I will talk about in a minute.

House Law Enforcement Committee:

Rep. Joe Driver - Chairman
Rep. Thomas Latham - Vice-Chairman
Rep. Alma Allen
Rep. Stephen Frost
Rep. Soloman Ortiz, Jr.
Rep. Hubert Vo
Resp. George “Buddy” West

Next on the agenda is HB 284, the Castle Doctrine Law. When I first commented on HB 284, it had 3 authors and 74 co-authors. This bill now has 102 co-authors (out of a total of 150 state representatives). You would think that with over 2/3 of the house either authoring, or co-authoring this bill, it could make it through committee easily. Well here we go, the Brady Bunch strikes again. On Monday, the 12th of February, the Dallas chapter of the Brady Bunch staged an anti gun rally in Austin and got to meet with a few of the legislatures. It now appears that between the rally and the fax/phone campaign, the freshman Democrat who is Vice-Chairman of the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee is trying to hold up the bill. This bill has the support of the House, and the People of Texas. If you are a Texan, contact the members of Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and let them know that you support HB 284 and want it released for a vote by the entire house.

Rep. Aaron Pena - Chairman
Rep. Allen Vaught Vice-Chairman
Rep. Debbie Riddle
Rep. Juan M. Escobar
Rep. Terri Hodge
Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway
Rep. Paul Moreno
Rep. Paula Pierson
Rep. Robert Talton

If you want your voice to be heard, please remember to be respectful and polite in your communications with the folks whom we are counting upon to protect our liberties.

If your representative is one of the authors or co-authors of HB 284, contact them and thank them for their support. If they are not, then contact them and let them know that YOU support this bill and would appreciate their support also.

This is a lot of contacting, and it can be a lot of work, but it is work well worth doing. If you do not stand up for our rights and freedoms, who will?

For up to the minute information on Texas firearm legislation, go to the TSRA-PAC.