Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Constitutional Carry to fail in the Texas Senate?

Good news.

Its a cool political statement, getting past 1870 and all.

It won't matter much as to who is armed, but getting rid of a "tax" on on a Constitutional right is a pretty big deal.

All the same people still carry around here too.

At long last. After 150 years of repression!

https://texasscorecard.com/state/constitutional-carry-gets-approval-in-texas-senate/

Constitutional carry passed a major milestone on Wednesday.

A legislative priority of the Republican of Texas, constitutional carry would allow citizens to exercise their right to bear arms by removing the requirement for a license to carry handguns.

In a meeting that lasted more than eight hours, the Texas Senate considered House Bill 1927, authored by State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R–Tyler). State Sen. Charles Schwertner (R–Georgetown) is the bill’s sponsor in the Senate. The measure ultimately passed by a vote of 18 in favor and 13 in opposition.

The debate lasted a few hours and seemingly was largely orchestrated behind the scenes. More than 25 amendments were offered, and only eight were adopted by the end of the debate.

One amendment that was added would prohibit an individual from carrying a handgun if they have also been convicted of disorderly conduct with a firearm, deadly conduct, terroristic threat, or an assault resulting in bodily injury in the last five years. Sources say this amendment might make the bill subject to a point of order, potentially delaying its eventual consideration back in the House.

Another amendment, by State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R–Granbury), added that it was an offense to carry a handgun in a public place while intoxicated.

Other amendments that were adopted were authored by Schwertner himself. One enhanced criminal penalties for felons in possession of a firearm to that of a second-degree felony with a five-year minimum of mandatory jail time; it would increase it to a third-degree felony for those already convicted of a Class A family violence misdemeanor.

Another amendment removes what Schwertner called the “savings clause,” which would have helped people who in good faith carried a handgun into a prohibited place by law without allowing them to correct their mistake by leaving the premises immediately.

Schwertner also amended the bill by stripping language originally added by State Reps. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) and Harold Dutton (D-Houston) when the bill was being deliberated in the House. The language in question dealt with record expungement as well as codification of case law stating that law enforcement could not stop someone merely for carrying a handgun, without also having reasonable suspicion.

Next Steps

Now that the bill has passed the Senate, it will be up to the House of Representatives to decide whether it accepts the changes or whether it will appoint a conference committee to debate the differences.

Timing is crucial, however. With fewer than 26 days left in the 140-day legislative session, in the event a conference committee is appointed, both chambers will have to accept the conference committee report in order to get the bill to the governor’s desk.

Whoa.

Just in time for the new reconstruction.

So what you’re saying is we ain’t quite out of the woods yet, opponents of this bill (mostly but not limited to Democrats) could still throw a wrench in the works?

The senate amendments could be an issue, according to GOA-Texas (sign up for their e-mail updates):

The bill author, Rep. Matt Schaefer, stated Thursday evening :

“We are now reviewing amendments that were added by the Senate to look for issues that would break House rules governing the purpose of HB 1927. Our first impression has us very concerned. Will share more as soon as we can. Our goal is to make Texas the 21st Constitutional Carry state.”

ALL of the Hispanic-surnamed Texas senators (Hinojosa/Lucio/Menendez/Zaffirini/Blanco/et al) opposed HB 1927 - they need to go back to Ye Olde Mexico where they can rule over the impoverished and downtrodden populace as they wish they could do in Texas:

https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-pol...l-allowing-permitless-carry-of-firearms/

Texas Democrats opposed the measure, stating it opens Texas up to “lose more loved ones to gun violence.”

“Texas Republicans continue to be a major threat to public safety, this time attempting to remove all requirements for people to carry a handgun in public,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “This law would further embolden hate groups and white supremacist organizations who thrive off of intimidation tactics and sowing distrust in institutions of public safety.”

Hinojosa cited the El Paso and Midland-Odessa massacres, saying Republicans “have quickly forgotten” lives lost to gun violence in the state.

“Their blatant disregard for Texans’ safety is appalling,” he stated.

Citing the Texas Safety Action Report published by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office in the wake of the El Paso and Midland-Odessa shootings, State Sen. César Blanco, D- El Paso, asked whether HB 1927 adopted any of the recommendations of the report. Schwertner said he had not read the report.

HB 1927 had previously passed out of the newly-formed Senate Special Committee on Constitutional Issues on April 29 in a 5-2 vote after 10 hours of testimony. It passed out of the House largely along party lines last month.

HB 1927 passed out of the upper chamber with some changes attached to the version approved by the House. It heads back to the House for approval on those changes. If the changes are approved, the bill heads to the Governor’s desk. If the changes are not agreed-upon by the House, the bill heads to a conference committee where a panel of lawmakers will iron out the differences between the versions before sending the bill to the Governor’s desk.

“No celebration yet folks! We are now reviewing amendments that were added by the Senate to look for issues that would break House rules governing the purpose of HB 1927,” said State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, who authored the legislation, in a tweet Wednesday night. “Our first impression has us very concerned. Will share more as soon as we can.”

Abbott signaled he would sign the bill into law should it reach his desk.

26 days left?

What happens if The House can’t come to an agreement in 26 days.

Is the Bill dead and has to start all over in the next session?

You guys need to PRIMARY THEIR ASS.

All of those idiots are democrats.

Their constituents are communists too.

There's not enough conservatives in their districts to get rid of them.

"There's not enough conservatives in their districts to get rid of them."

This is what the not too distant future holds for the entire state!

Thousands more democrat voters arriving from the south daily...

Schools are churning out commies as fast as they can.

One of the amendments smells a lot like a red flag law sneaking in from behind. We'll see. There should be no debate whether we have the right to carry a firearm.

Texas gun control politicians...

Hinojosa and his ilk get their marching orders from La Raza and the cartels.

Opposition to it makes no sense, since it assumes that currently criminals are deterred by it's being illegal for them to carry a gun. When the reality is that, under Constitutional Carry, criminals are still prohibited, but will carry exactly as often as they did before Constitutional Carry. They aren't deterred by activities being illegal. That's what makes them criminals.

Their other argument is that common disagreements between otherwise non-criminal people will, by virtue of one party (or both) being armed, will escalate into deadly force encounters. Well, that has not been found to be the result of Constitutional Carry in other states, so why would it be in Texas? In fact, when otherwise non-criminals are packing heat, what they are more likely to do during a confrontation is deescalate it or leave, being concerned that an escalation might result in the need to use their weapon, and then their being forced into defending their actions to the police and/or the criminal justice system, which regular folks would like to avoid if at all possible.