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Open Carry protest on Capitol yesterday

tx-skydiver

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Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
48
Location
Dallas, TX
I went to Austin yesterday to participate in a rally at the capitol. There were 70+ of us and we were loud but respectful. We were polite to them and they were polite to us. We even had a trooper come out and tell us that we were definitely heard throughout the capitol building and we succeeded in being heard. Another said if he were not on duty he would have joined us. Some had their rifles strapped to their backs during the march. There were many schoolchildren touring the capitol and would you believe that nobody got hurt and nobody ran screaming from the big bad guns? Many of the kids gave us thumbs up and were chanting with us from where they stood. It was a good day.

As you are all aware we cannot get this bill actioned without Perry getting involved and calling a special session. We may have to do it again and focus on him. We do need a bigger showing for sure though to get that to happen. 70 people is not nearly enough.
 

mustangkiller

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My only issue was the gas money. With that said, if someone wants to carpool, I'm ready, willing and able for the next one.
 

Douva

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As you are all aware we cannot get this bill actioned without Perry getting involved and calling a special session. We may have to do it again and focus on him. We do need a bigger showing for sure though to get that to happen. 70 people is not nearly enough.

I hate to be Debbie Downer, but unless Governor Perry receives special instructions from a burning bush or a talking donkey or something like that, there won't be a special session for open carry.

During the two previous regular sessions, campus carry came VERY close to passing--in 2009, it passed the Senate but didn't reach the House floor (due in part to the Democratic filibuster/chubbing of voter ID), and in 2011, it passed the Senate as an amendment to another bill and was poised to pass the House but died on a point of order. In both 2009 and 2011, Governor Perry called a 30-day special session immediately following the end of the regular session, and in both 2009 and 2011, campus carry supporters flooded the governor's office with phone calls, imploring him to add campus carry to the special session. In 2011, Senator Wentworth personally visited the governor's office and asked that campus carry be added to the special session.

Despite how close campus carry came to passing during the regular sessions, and despite this outpouring of public support, Governor Perry did not add it to either special session. Now, contrast that with open carry, which has never received a floor vote in either chamber.

Special sessions are VERY EXPENSIVE. There is absolutely no chance that the governor will call a special session for open carry alone--it would be political suicide (killing his credibility with both fiscal conservatives and social moderates/liberals). Even if he calls a special session for some other issue, he won't add open carry at the beginning of the session because doing so would jeopardize the session's primary goal (remember, in a special session, any bill not passed at the end of thirty days dies), and he won't add it at the end of the session because doing so would risk prolonging the session and adding to taxpayer expense (remember, a special session ends when time runs out or when the declared topics have been addressed, whichever comes first).

I'm a strong believer in "it ain't over until it's over," but as far as open carry is concerned, it's over until 2015.
 

tx-skydiver

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
48
Location
Dallas, TX
i hate to be debbie downer, but unless governor perry receives special instructions from a burning bush or a talking donkey or something like that, there won't be a special session for open carry.

During the two previous regular sessions, campus carry came very close to passing--in 2009, it passed the senate but didn't reach the house floor (due in part to the democratic filibuster/chubbing of voter id), and in 2011, it passed the senate as an amendment to another bill and was poised to pass the house but died on a point of order. In both 2009 and 2011, governor perry called a 30-day special session immediately following the end of the regular session, and in both 2009 and 2011, campus carry supporters flooded the governor's office with phone calls, imploring him to add campus carry to the special session. In 2011, senator wentworth personally visited the governor's office and asked that campus carry be added to the special session.

Despite how close campus carry came to passing during the regular sessions, and despite this outpouring of public support, governor perry did not add it to either special session. Now, contrast that with open carry, which has never received a floor vote in either chamber.

Special sessions are very expensive. There is absolutely no chance that the governor will call a special session for open carry alone--it would be political suicide (killing his credibility with both fiscal conservatives and social moderates/liberals). Even if he calls a special session for some other issue, he won't add open carry at the beginning of the session because doing so would jeopardize the session's primary goal (remember, in a special session, any bill not passed at the end of thirty days dies), and he won't add it at the end of the session because doing so would risk prolonging the session and adding to taxpayer expense (remember, a special session ends when time runs out or when the declared topics have been addressed, whichever comes first).

I'm a strong believer in "it ain't over until it's over," but as far as open carry is concerned, it's over until 2015.

buzz kill
 

bushwacker

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Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
I hate to be Debbie Downer, but unless Governor Perry receives special instructions from a burning bush or a talking donkey or something like that, there won't be a special session for open carry.

so why don't we create that talking donkey by getting everyone that we can think of to call perry's office and state that we want that special session for open carry and let them know that oklahoma being oc and pro gun just puts texas as less favorable for gun companies to move their business here. as it stands now ,oklahoma appears to be a less demo/lib and more constitution/repub state than texas (there's your burning bush part)and gun companies can see that. why would they invest here?all everyone has to do is just make that call once a day till it happens (or they change the number and don't tell anyone)..does anyone have the number that we need to call.....with some fine tuning ,this could work. and to all debbie downers , please don.t buzz kill unless you have a better idea that you wish to share. afterall what we have been doing in the past hasn't worked ...i.e. you legally open carrying in tx yet?
 
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KBCraig

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Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
4,886
Location
Granite State of Mind
A special session can only deal with the specific issues for which it is called.

Perry might sign an open carry bill if it crossed his desk, but it is nowhere near high on his radar. He's certainly not going to include it in his call for a special session, if there is one.
 
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bushwacker

Regular Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
203
Location
pottsboro,texas
A special session can only deal with the specific issues for which it is called.

Perry might sign an open carry bill if it crossed his desk, but it is nowhere near high on his radar. He's certainly not going to include it in his call for a special session, if there is one.

well....where is your better idea?
 
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