2008 Texas Republican Party Platform

Now that the Republican Party of Texas Convention is over, it is time to see how we did with the 2008 State Republican Platform.

Back in March I had offered up two resolutions to the Senate District 10 Resolutions Committee. The first resolution was in support of the right to concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses, and the second concerned an individuals right to keep their firearm locked in a vehicle on their employers' parking lot.

The Senatorial District 10 Republican Convention integrated my resolutions with those submitted by others to make a very strong statement about our support of an unfettered RKBA. This statement was sent to the state convention for consideration in SD 10's platform.

The following is what came out of the state convention, the official stance of the Republican Party of Texas on our right to keep and bear arms:

Right To Keep and Bear Arms – We urge the Legislature and Congress to repeal all laws that infringe on the right to bear arms, and to reject any monitoring of gun ownership, and all excessive taxation or regulation of guns and ammunition. We support a ten-year minimum mandatory sentence without parole for felonies committed with firearms. Stiff penalties should be enacted for frivolous lawsuits against legitimate firearms manufacturers. All gun owners are responsible for safely storing and operating firearms. We believe the Legislature should enact legislation: allowing: Concealed Handgun License holders to carry concealed weapons on publicly owned institutions of learning; and, preventing employers from prohibiting Concealed Handgun License holders from storing their concealed handgun in their vehicle while on a company parking area, and removing civil liability from property owners who do not prevent Concealed Handgun License holders from carrying on their premises. We believe that FFL holders should be free from harassment, and license revocations and denials against firearm dealers based on violations consisting of largely inconsequential record keeping errors and encourages the ATF to consider lesser gradation of sanctions for such errors.

Not too shabby. Remember this platform during the next legislative session, hold your representative's feet to the fire if they fall short of supporting pro individual freedom legislation.

On a side note: I did look through the Texas Democrat Platform to see what they had to say about our RKBA. As expected, it was not mentioned.