Texas passes two Good Gun laws with more to come

[1SOW]

Texas has OK'd two new laws making it easier to get a concealed license and 'forgiving' inadvertent exposure of the concealed weapon.  Another bill is about to go through preventing individual counties from limiting these and other gun-carry laws.

Our Governor has had some less than stellar ideas, but his views on the second amendment are right on the mark.

http://www.nraila.org/legislation/state-legislation/2013/4/texas-senate-passes-two-pro-gun-measures-and-expected-to-act-on-another-soon.aspx?s=&st=&ps=

[DenStinett]

NICE

[JimThornTX]

Clarification: the Texas SENATE has passed these bills. The Texas HOUSE has yet to vote on ANY pro-2A bills.

It's definitely a step in the right direction, but the battle is far from won. And we are running out of time fast before the session ends and we have to wait two more years for the next session.

[1SOW]

Yes the senate passed them with the att. comment that no opposition is present in the house.  The third bill (an important one to not end up like CO with counties limiting or amending it) hasn't been passed yet, but is expected to do so. 
The NRA posted the info.

There are also other gun bills in the mill, but like you say, they need to hurry.

The "Battle" isn't ever likely to end.  The Schuman bill is coming up nationally.  Prompt/remind your reps.

[JimThornTX]

no opposition is present in the house.

But what about Speaker Joe Strauss? My understanding is he's fairly moderate and not necessarily pro-gun. And he's the one that decides what bills get to the floor for a full vote.

I received this email yesterday from NationalGunRights.org :

The clock is ticking in Austin.

There are just 52 days left to enact pro-gun reforms in Texas.

If lawmakers fail -- yet again -- to meet deadlines, that means you'll have to wait another two years for any meaningful restoration of your rights.

There's been some movement in Austin.

Unfortunately, it has NOT been pro-gun.

The House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee recently heard testimony on campus carry and open carry, as well as other gun bills.

So far the committee has not voted on the pro-gun bills, instead dedicating the hearing to -- you guessed it -- more talk.

Worse, while Committee Chairman Joseph Pickett (R) 'pocket vetoes' campus carry and open carry, he's been more than willing to let anti-gun legislation out of his committee.

Last month, they passed anti-gun HB-1872 by Rep. Ron Simmons (R).

This bill would allow you to surrender your gun rights for voluntarily identifying yourself as a person with mental illness.

That's right.

Lawmakers in Austin are more interested in you surrendering your God-given rights than restoring them.

This kind of gun-grabbing behavior may be expected from New York politicians beholden to billionaire-playboy Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but it's truly painful to watch in Texas.

Right now, campus carry (HB-972/SB-182) and open carry (HB-1194) are both rotting away in committee.

Worse, yet another committee is squatting on multiple versions of the "Firearms Protection Act," which would protect Texas gun owners from unconstitutional federal intrusion on your gun rights.

The road to passage of much needed pro-gun reforms is treacherous.

Supposedly "pro-gun" Republicans like House Speaker Joe Strauss have killed pro-gun bills year after year.

There are no signs this year will be any different.

Worse, gun-grabbers have buried anti-gun provisions in the open carry and campus carry bills -- just in case they happen to make it out of committee.

NAGR has proposed simple pro-gun amendments to fix these concerns, but lawmakers have balked at them and instead opted for watered down, anti-gun versions instead.

Both the House Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee and the Senate Criminal Justice Committee are continuing to hold regular meetings.

... but so far none of their agendas include open carry or campus carry.

Instead, they're planning to take up a few more anti-gun bills, and a couple of marginally pro-gun bills designed to keep gun owners like you at bay.

As we've been warning you, quisling lawmakers in the Lone Star state are perfectly content giving you lip-service, or at best, small potatoes to buy you off in hopes you don't realize their willingness to chip-away at your God-given rights.

Virtually nothing makes me more upset than when politicians play fast-and-loose with your rights.

But one thing is coming close.

Some supposedly "pro-gun" groups have been making excuses for lawmakers' anti-gun behavior.

One such group even paraded around an alert praising lawmakers for their toothless committee hearing, insisting that lawmakers would vote on the bill within two weeks.

Those two weeks have now passed since the hearing but nothing has happened.

What a shock!

Open carry and campus carry were mysteriously absent from anti-gun Chairman Joseph Pickett's agenda this week, and they're not yet on his agenda for next week either.

Now, there are just 52 days to go, and these bills haven't even made it out of their first committees yet.