The Right Kind of Change

Last weekend I attended the Senatorial District 10 Republican Convention as a delegate from my precinct. It was a very long, yet productive, day. One of the main orders of business for a district convention is to submit resolutions to the state convention. These resolutions are considered at the state convention, and with enough support can change the Republican Platform for the State of Texas. You can read the current State Republican Party Platform here (pdf). As I mentioned previously, our District Resolutions Committee did an excellent job developing our package to send to the state convention.

2008 Senate District 10 Adopted Convention Resolutions (pdf)

I am particularly happy with the resolutions being submitted to state in the "Right to Keep and Bear Arms" section of the platform. I submitted two proposals to the committee that I feel were well integrated with those submitted by others to make a very strong statement about our support of an unfettered RKBA.

Added to the platform:

A new introduction -

The Republican Party of Texas affirms that the Second Amendment secures the rights of individuals who are not affiliated with any state regulated militia but who wish to keep handguns and other firearms for private use in their homes. The Republican Party of Texas calls upon the Legislature and Governor of the great State of Texas to defend the gun ownership and self-protection rights of all Texans from any Federal attempts to infringe on those rights.

And several new planks -

Abolition of Gun Free Zones

The Republican Party of Texas resolves to protect Second Amendment rights at all levels of government and seeks the abolition of all gun free zones for licensed gun holders.

Concealed Handguns

We support permitting professors and/or teachers at state colleges and universities, with proper state licenses, to carry concealed weapons.

And -

Believing that an effective deterrent to multiple victim, public shootings is the lawful, concealed-carry of firearms by law-abiding citizens, the Republican Party of Texas is dedicated to the removal of federal restraints on the carrying of firearms on all public-school grounds.

There is also verbiage concerning employer parking lots, and calling for legislators and judges to support our RKBA. Yes, I know that the state can over ride the fed .gov when it comes to CHL's on school grounds. I also agree that students with CHL's should also be allowed to carry. These are proposals from one district. The committee at the state convention will have one week to compile, debate and come to a consensus on proposals from all of the districts. Even though the wording is not perfect, I am excited that it is in there at all.

Senate District 10 is a large district and should carry some weight at the state convention. I understand that other districts have submitted similar changes, so we stand a good chance of improving the Texas State Republican Party Platform.