Politics

Scanners at the Texas capitol?

/ hsoi

The Austin-American Statesman has an article about possible security increases at the state capitol building.

One possible sticking point: how to allow Texans with concealed-weapons permits to get through security with their guns. Perry, Dewhurst and Straus probably will make the final decision.

Yes, that is a big sticking point, especially given that many of our legislators are CHL holders.

Earlier this week, [Senator Dan] Patrick — who holds a state concealed-handgun permit, along with a number of other Texas lawmakers — sent his colleagues a letter advocating increased Capitol security. “However … I do not want to see those who have a legal right to carry a gun denied their constitutional right.

“Whatever new measures we may adopt, I would not want to stop law-abiding CHL holders from carrying their guns in the Capitol,” he stated in the letter. “The goal is to stop those who bring illegal weapons into the Capitol, not those who have a legal right to do so.”

Note that it was Sen. Patrick’s office that was visited by last week’s gunman. Hearing this sort of attitude and approach from him makes me happy.

Reached by phone Thursday, Patrick said Texans with concealed-handgun licenses might “put their gun in a tray, go through the detector, pick it up and go,” or perhaps they could show their state-issued license and walk around security-screening devices.

Well… I hope they don’t do the “gun in a tray” thing. To have to have people disarm right then and there is risking trouble. The more you handle the gun, the more risk of discharge. Leave it in your holster and don’t mess with it. So hopefully something like showing the license would suffice. In the end, I wouldn’t see the point of putting the gun in the tray anyway. We might have more than one gun, we might have other weapons too (e.g. pocket knife). We’re still going to set off alarms, all that disarming would be troublesome and probably make the sheep nervous too. If we show the license that’s really good enough… it’s reasonable enough to assume we’re armed and going to set off the detectors. Just show and go.

Why not make the Capitol a gun-free zone altogether, like schools and businesses?

“If you continue to restrict more and more places where CHL holders can carry their weapons, you’re tearing away at the intent of the legislation that established this program,” Patrick said.

Thank you!

Brock’s a Republican

/ hsoi

Listening to a media call with UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar.

He flat out states that he’s a conservative Republican.

When his medical issue came to a head, he was hunting in Canada. He gets taken to a local hospital, then high-tails it back to the US because the medical care is so much better here than there.

Give it a listen. Brock doesn’t mince words, and no he’s not hip to Obamacare.

Heh heh heh.

Capitol Security

/ hsoi

Some nutjob walks into the Texas State capitol building, shoots a gun in the air. No one is hurt, the schmuck is subdued.

And of course, everyone freaks out and there’s a call for more security.

I’m not going to excuse what the guy did.

But clamping down on the Capitol Building is not the way to make it more secure. It won’t stop anything. Look at the “high level of security” that goes on at the airports and it doesn’t stop things.

Governor Rick Perry thinks metal detectors is the wrong way to go about it.

But other Texans do, and “criminals have to think twice before they draw a gun because there is a good chance that they are going to end up outnumbered by law-abiding citizens who are not only armed, but screened and trained properly in firearm use … (which) keeps us all safer,” Perry said.

Even Austin’s Democrat Representative, Mark Strama, says:

Rep. Mark Strama of Austin is open to security changes, but doesn’t want to lose the connection Austinites feel to the building.

“My bias, if there’s not a compelling case coming from the security experts, is to keep the Capitol as open as possible. It’s a jewel to this community,” he said.

However another one of Austin’s Democrat Representatives, Eddie Rodriguezsays:

Rep. Eddie Rodriguez of Austin said metal detectors should be put in place at entrances. He also thinks the open carry law within the capitol should be revisited next session.

“I think after yesterday and what could have happened, it might be something people change their minds about,” Rodriguez said.

Setting aside the fact there isn’t open carry in Texas (I assume this was a journalistic mistake), I don’t see how that would make any difference. As it is, someone with a concealed carry permit can carry concealed into the Capitol building. Why should that change? This guy didn’t have a license, and either way well… he was already breaking the law in numerous ways. How would more laws stop him? Do tell. Could a metal detector have stopped him? Probably so. But it would also stop a lot of legally carrying law-abiding citizens as well.

Please don’t disarm and disable us law-abiding citizens, especially if we’re participating in our state’s political process. It won’t make you safer.

Rick Perry and guns

/ hsoi

So Robbie got to spend the afternoon shooting guns with Texas Governor Rick Perry. And all at the local indoor range. Dang. I wish I had known I would have loved to have run over there and seen this.

Texas State Rifle Association PAC has also endorsed Rick Perry.

NRA endorses Rick Perry. Note here that while Perry has a good track record, it’s also policy of the NRA-PVF to endorse the incumbent unless there’s strong reason not to. To compare, the last time Kay Bailey Hutchison was graded by the NRA-PVF was in 2006 and she received an A+ rating.

Does this mean I’m voting for Rick Perry or endorse him? No it doesn’t. I just think it’s cool to see our Governor at the local gun range, hanging out with the people, giving instruction. Plus a little political and gun-related details about him.

I will say this. I will not vote for Kay.

Austin Gun Show blarg

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

I saw on News 8 Austin about some gun show brouhaha:

The Austin Police Department said in the last year, eight people were arrested and convicted for illegal gun possession.

All of them were convicted felons or illegal immigrants, and all bought their weapons from unlicensed dealers at shows at the North Austin Event Center, on North Lamar Boulevard.

Now APD is making recommendations to crackdown on illegal sales at gun shows.

It’s not illegal for an unlicensed dealer to sell at the shows, but APD is urging promoters and property owners to require their vendors to have a license.

“There have been questions posed to us about whether or not we are trying to create new rules regarding the private sales of guns. We are not. We are just making recommendations to the property owner and how he can control the activity on his property in order to avoid ongoing violations of the law,” APD Detective TJ Vineyard said.

APD also recommends that promoters provide onsite security, so that sales are prohibited from taking place in parking lots.

So far, police said all property owners and managers have agreed to follow the recommendations.

So it looks like a case of demonizing gun shows as evil. Sorry folks, what’s happening here are transactions between two private individuals. It so happens that one of the individuals aren’t allowed to possess guns (or even be in the country in the first place). But is it the seller’s responsibility to check into this? Perhaps, but the buyer could be a good liar. You never know. If you don’t allow the sales in one place, they’ll just got somewhere else to do it. In the end the crimes won’t be stopped. I’m not saying this is good that this is happening, that criminals are getting into our country and engaging in illegal activity… but only that illegal activity should be targetted to stop.

But what’s really going on with this particular situation?

Posted to a mailing list:

For those not already in the loop, there has been some info posted on the internet suggesting that Austin PD and BATFE were trying to stop private gun sales at an Austin gun show. Here’s the explanation, according to Austin PD:

For the last year, BATFE and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) have been tasked with trying to do something to curb the movement of guns from the U.S. to Mexico. A number of guns seized in Mexico had been traced back to a particular gun show held in Austin. Therefore, BATFE began watching goings-on in the show, and started arresting illegal aliens and felons attempting to purchase guns. They did this by seeing individuals talk to FFLs, learn that they could not buy a gun without going through NICS, and then move on to non-FFL sellers, for example.

The property on which the show has been held is owned by Wal-Mart, leased by a grocery store chain, which sub-leases it to a guy, who sub-leases a portion of it occasionally to the gun show promoter.

Because enough felony arrests were being made on the property, Austin’s abatement laws were about to kick in. The grocery chain was facing potential civil and criminal liability, so it met with the show promoter. Austin PD was asked for advice on how to prevent illegal transactions. Out of this discussion, the promoter agreed to attempt to limit sales to only those taking place through FFLs. The promoter put together a flyer which “asks” that people (1) not sell guns except through dealers, and (2) not sell guns in the parking lot. The flyer was poorly worded, in that it “asks” people to voluntarily comply with verbiage that states a requirement by Austin PD and BATFE. That is what got some people cranked up on the internet. They saw the “command” verbiage, and paid less heed to the “ask” language. In any case, the promoter is entirely the source of the flyer.

A show was held this past weekend. Apparently, BATFE arrested someone in a situation said to involve a 16-year-old illegal immigrant. Austin PD says that it is its understanding that the grocery chain may have decided now to no longer allow the gun show on its property.

Howard Nemerov also has more information and analysis.

In the end, it looks like all the involved parties are trying to do what they can. They want to try to stop the illegal activity. They want to help law enforcement. They want to protect their properties (the property owner doesn’t want to get in legal trouble, the gun show promoter wants to keep the show going). Everyone seems to be doing what they can.

As with many things, everyone has their version of the truth and the Real Truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Hopefully the above contains many of the facts (and opinions) and you can make your decision from here.

Updated: More information coming to light.

Like I said, everyone has their version of the truth.

Updated 2: Receievd email this morning from the Texas State Rifle Association:

TSRA continues to receive reports that the Austin Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives attempted  to stop all private firearm transactions at an Austin gun show last weekend.

This is due to a decision reached in a Thursday meeting attended by law enforcement agencies, property owners and managers, and the gun show promoter in question and resulted in a self-imposed regulation and not due to a change in city, state, or federal regulations.

Any such city ordinance could violate the state’s firearms preemption law.

The Texas State Rifle Association, in conjunction with the NRA, will continue to research and investigate this matter–including examining whether this venue was unfairly targeted as a nuisance by local police or federal enforcement agencies.

Please check your TSRA membership status and check your voter registration.  Keep both up to date!

Updated 3: NRA-ILA’s statement.

Things are getting interesting

/ hsoi

So it seems that Scott Brown is now a US Senator.

Boy, this is really going to make things interesting now. 🙂

Full disclosure: Yes I contributed $20 to Brown’s campaign. Do I like him? No, not really. I’m sure he’ll turn out to be just as much of a corrupt jackass as the rest of the schmucks in Washington. However, what I appreciate is not just the 59-41 balance, but sending the greater message to the schmucks in D.C. that we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this any more.

This isn’t right

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

17-year-old goes hunting before school. Doesn’t want to be late, so he leaves his shotguns in the car and parks off campus. Still gets expelled from school “claiming he was a danger to himself and other students.” Story here.

[Susan] Parisio said it’s an important distinction that her son’s truck was parked on a public street. “I asked the police and the district attorney’s office if he did anything wrong and they said no,” Parisio said.

However, school officials disagreed. They told Parisio state law gives them “the right to search any of the student’s vehicles no matter where they’re parked or what they’re doing during school hours,” she said.

Yet another reason I don’t care for government schools: how they make you leave your Constitutional rights at the door.

Updated: More detailed legal information here.

Mandating Education

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Bob S. has started a small series on mandated education for firearms. Post 1, Post 2, Post 3.

Then as I’m catching up on my blog reading this morning, I see this posting from Roberta X.

Given what we see in Roberta’s posting, it just feeds into what Bob was saying about government mandated firearms education: what’s the damn point?

Of course, I take a step back beyond just gun/firearms/concealed-carry education and look at government mandated education in general. Hey… I homeschool my kids. Tells you what I think about government schooling.

For those unsure of my stance, I think education is one of the keys to success in life. The more you know, the better you’ll do. Rarely is ignorance the better route. But mandating education? That opens up a whole ugly can of worms, mostly because no one is going to agree where to draw the line. Look at the mess of our public government school system and failures like No Child Left Behind.

In the end, those that understand the value of education will seek knowledge. Those who are satisfied to remain ignorant will do so. Best we can do is ensure folks don’t infringe upon another’s ability to live their lives.

Ignorant and Civil

/ hsoi

Due to my line of work I knew about The Project Triangle. In short, when it comes to the quality of your product or project, what do you want? Fast? Good? or Cheap? Pick two.

While composing my previous posting I found Wikipedia has an entry about The Project Triangle and of course I read it. In the entry it listed some spinoffs. One really struck me:

Nation’s populace: Ignorant, Free, Civil – Pick two.

I guess that explains why we’re losing our freedom.