Texas Politicians Renege On Promise Of Open Carry Legislation
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 9 months ago
We just discussed how at least one of the proposed pieces of legislation in Texas is licensed open carry. A deal may very well have been struck well before the session concerning what the Governor expected to come to his desk. This isn’t the only open carry bill in Texas, and so the show isn’t over yet. But there is a cold wind blowing concerning the promises made to the voters.
Texas never met a gun-rights bill it didn’t like.
But if one actually fails to pass the Legislature this session, the author of the state’s 1995 handgun permit law knows why.
A bill to allow Texans to pack pistols without a permit won’t pass “because of the Tarrant County open-carry group’s obnoxious behavior,” former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson warned by email Tuesday.
Earlier Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said a different bill allowing open carry with a permit “does not reach to the level of prioritizing” before adjournment June 1.
Basically, Patterson said, that bill might have a chance if Open Carry Tarrant County stays home.
Patrick’s comment will “stir up a lot of folks,” Patterson wrote, adding: “I hope these folks don’t make another scene.”
Patterson called that “foolish.” Watkins’ comment: “Shame on you.”
Patterson wants the Legislature to pass bills allowing open carry and carrying at public colleges, both with a permit.
Since he worked hard for permits, he likes them.
Consider me shocked – a member of the ruling class likes it when the government gets to approve or disapprove of rights. The promise strategically didn’t include constitutional carry, and the so-called “obnoxious” behavior of open carry advocates has given him a convenient excuse for something he never wanted to do in the first place.
Another report (thanks to MackH) tells us more about the political machinations.
Speaking the day after pro-gun advocates again flocked to the state Capitol, Patrick said he thought “Second Amendment rights are important” but he didn’t think “there’s support in the Legislature to pass” a bill to legalize the open carry of handguns. In Texas, you can openly tote long arms like rifles and AR-15s, but the same has been illegal for handguns for more than 125 years.
“On open carry I’ve been very consistent, that if the votes are there, the bill will pass out of the Senate,” said Patrick. “But I’m not an open carry person myself. I wouldn’t open carry but I respect people’s right who want to.”
[ … ]
While Patrick’s comments on open carry Tuesday morning were nothing new – he ‘s made similar statements on news programs and at town hall meetings in the recent past – they seem to contradict campaign material that promised the then state senator and radio show host would more actively support the effort. On his campaign website, one of the five “Second Amendment” issues Patrick lists as priorities is to “fight for open carry.” A campaign ad also includes a promise to “support” the effort.
In a retweet of a San Antonio Express-News story from November 2013, Patrick campaign consultant Allen Blakemore also stated, “@DanPatrick supports open carry.”
If this all sounds like politicians making promises in order to get elected and then reverting collectivist after being elected, it’s because that’s exactly what happened. And as to the propaganda that this all has to do with those “obnoxious” open carriers, Sebastian fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Remember, before their little stunt, this was supposedly a done deal … So far all all the OC Tarrant County folks have accomplished this session is getting the legislature to install panic buttons, and scuttling a bill that looked like it had the legs to pass. What else will they manage to accomplish in this legislative session?
Right. They’re all a-skeered of the open carriers, enough to install “panic buttons.” It sounds to me like they aren’t a-skeerd enough. The legislators are supposed to be in our employ, and maybe what they need to see is more voters carrying guns.
As for the open carry bill they floated, I’d sooner have nothing. As I’ve said, licensed open carry in a state with no stop and identify statute for enforcement is a shooting-by-cop waiting to happen. And I certainly don’t support empowering the police state any more by giving them a stop and identify statute. That would be making something bad even worse.
Gun rights advocates are better off to hold out for constitutional carry rather than begging for scraps that fall from the master’s table. As for Texas politicians, color me unimpressed. They seem like a lot of hot air and no action or honesty. I guess the underhanded, conniving, bullying days of Bob Bullock are still going strong even as Bob lays in the grave.
On January 29, 2015 at 7:27 am, LibertasIntel said:
Texans are getting a hands on education. Texas is just as corrupt, just as much a police state as their Yankee cousins.
On January 29, 2015 at 12:01 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
Um – I call bullshit on “blaming” those who carry the only guns they are
legally able for somehow being “obnoxious” or “responsible” for
quashing a law.
So – we can practice a “right” as long as no one
else can ever see you? It’s OK to open carry a rifle or shotgun unless another party sees you doing so. Then you’re just being obnoxious. Can anyone who think like this be anything other than a quisling? What, were Texan open-carriers aiming their rifles at folks? Or just carrying?
I suppose that school of thought would run something like this:
You have the “right” to avoid cruel and unusual
punishment – unless you are cruelly punished where no one else can possibly witness the occurrence. Or, you can be secure in you home, with no illegal searches – unless your house is searched when you are not home, and no one else actually sees the illegal search.
Quislings. Who need em.
On January 29, 2015 at 12:27 pm, Archer said:
On the surface I agree: a right that can only be exercised when nobody can see it, isn’t a right at all.
However, “obnoxious” open-carry advocates can and do hurt the cause. I don’t know about OC Tarrant County or Kory Watkins, but look at the OC group in Washington at the rally to support the repeal of I-594. They loaded magazines and cycled the actions before entering the building, and carried their long arms across the front of their chest at “low-ready”. Sorry, but “low ready” is the carry position of someone who expects and is looking for trouble. It’s the long-gun equivalent of “open-carrying” your handgun in your hand, in a firing grip, instead of in a holster.
I won’t call it “irresponsible” from a safety perspective – there are a LOT more factors to that – but from a political action and public image perspective, they are idiots. The repeal of I-594 was nearly a done deal, but after the OC fiasco, it may stand, and open-carrying in the Legislative galleries is now banned.
On January 29, 2015 at 8:46 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
I haven’t seen the OC group in Washington you referenced. Your observation, if that’s what they did, is on point, re: carrying a handgun in a firing grip ready for action. I also agree that some of these folks don’t seem to understand PR much.
Back in the 90’s when the so-called “Militia Movement” was big, some of these guys would attend hearings wearing body armor, vests loaded with mags, etc.
I opined that they shouldn’t admit a member for the purpose of PR, who didn’t have a proper suit, briefcase and manners. If I has say, it would be that no one would have ever seen them attend meetings in anything but a suit, with a briefcase carrying the notes for whatever speech they intended to give.
I don’t have a cable connection for TV, or any other TV stations connection, and limited time for internet. I’ve now made several posts on Captain’s Journal that were premature. Back to proper research before posting. Removing foot from mouth is hard on foot and teeth.
On January 29, 2015 at 8:58 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Oh, I don’t think the repeal of I-594 was anything like “done deal.” In fact, given the control the large cities have, I do have my doubts that it will ever be repealed. I still don’t think how “obnoxious” they were said to be has anything to do with it. As I’ve said, the politicians done fear us enough. You don’t change the heart of totalitarians by being nice.
On January 29, 2015 at 2:48 pm, Haywood Jablome said:
I have family in TX. The GOP Progressives are pretty strong there. Incumbency is king…it’s hard to flush the turds out of office. The true principled conservatives have work to do and they know it.
On January 29, 2015 at 6:41 pm, tired dog said:
Panic buttons, wow. Thinking back a few sessions, isn’t Dan Patrick is the reason we have to do the metal detector perp walk to enter the capitol; some guy who had visited his office discharged a weapon (with no bad effect) outside on the capitol grounds? Or has memory failed?