Texas – -(Ammoland.com)- On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, at 9:00 am in hearing room E1.036, the Texas Senate will hold its last interim study on Violence in Schools and School Security.
An interim study simply gathers information and is not linked in any way to legislation or bill passage during the 2019 session. As usual there are those on both sides who sensationalize the hearings, meetings, and discussions for their own basic purposes. The rest of us are working our tails off.
The subject for this hearing as listed in the interim charge:
To examine whether current protective order laws are sufficient or whether the merits of Extreme Risk Protective Orders, or “Red Flag” laws, should be considered for seeking a temporary removal of firearms from a person or others, only after legal due process is provided with a burden of proof sufficient to protect Second Amendment rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
Texas State Rifle Association has participated in every hearing and every discussion on the subject of Violence in Schools and School Security in the House and Senate since the Round Table discussion on June 25th and part of our job has been to find and to provided impact witnesses, meaning those with the background and experience to prove a point.
This is not a numbers game but an information-gathering hearing.
In the House Constable Dolle testified that every tool in law necessary to safeguard public safety is currently in Texas when it comes to orders of protection. There are layers and layers of gun laws in Texas.
The only folks even remotely committed to the addition of new law which could strip away rights is the various anti-gun groups such as Texas Gun Sense and the Bloomberg funded Mom’s Demand. Nothing new there and all part of politics, not public safety.
What the Governor has asked of the House and Senate is to review existing law. What has been “discovered” is that no “tools” in law are missing.
If you’ve been told this is all a “gun confiscation scheme” or anything similar, it’s a blinking lie.
Also, as for firearm storage, Texas Penal Code 46.13 has been in the statute since 1995 and requires firearm storage but NEVER mentions a specific method of storage. What’s appropriate for one family would not be for another. PC 46.13 passed with Concealed Carry and was meant to be a child safety law. In 23 years it’s only been used by the courts 62 times, which means “not often”.
You should also be aware that if your child uses your readily dischargeable firearm for home defense, this is protected by the current statute as is youth hunting and other legal uses.
We don’t have trigger lock police and no one has suggested this.
While firearm storage is not listed for Tuesday, the subject was mentioned in an email alert from a new group sensationalizing the issues.
Texas State Rifle Association was allowed to provide two witnesses with invited testimony for the Tuesday hearing: Gary Wells and Edwin Walker, both are knowledgeable Second Amendment lawyers with the right message, at the right time, to the right people.
In addition, this is a very very smart group of Senators.
It’s been a busy summer. The Voter’s Guide is coming together and will be in the Sept.-Oct. edition of the magazine and online at www.tsrapac.com
In Conclusion
Thanks for the membership, your renewals and for your continued PAC donations. The anti-gun folks are hard at work. I see gun bigots everywhere! Remember you can renew your membership or donate to the association to keep bills paid and lights on at www.tsra.com and donate to the PAC or sign-up for this email alert at www.tsrapac.com
Sincerely,
Alice Tripp
Legislative Director
Texas State Rifle Association-PAC
About Texas State Rifle Association:
The Mission of the Texas State Rifle Association is to protect and defend the inalienable rights of the individual Texan to acquire, possess, transport, carry, transfer ownership and enjoy the right to lawful use of firearms for self-preservation, for the defense of family and property and the common defense of the Republic and the individual liberties of the people. Visit: www.TSRA.com