I'm not saying it's not erroneous. It is definitely erroneous. I actually know both the chief and the assistant chief of the Grapevine PD...not real well, but I do know them both. I was initially surprised when I heard about this, because neither of them on the surface appear to be "gun-grabber" types. Grapevine is a pretty conservative town, and generally speaking, I think the town's leadership reflects that conservatism. However, it is also a town that does whatever it can to attract businesses and the tourist industry. I think that they are willing to enforce non-compliant signs if it will keep a major contributor to the tax base happy, as long as those signs are almost compliant. In other words, I don't think they would enforce it if they were simple "gunbusters" signs, but even those signs are not strictly compliant, they probably think they are close enough to compliant to enforce. I don't particularly like that, but it's a fact of life here; and this city is very well funded by its corporate tax base. That means plenty of services to the local residents, such as clean streets in good repair, regular and frequent trash pickups, nice parks, etc., etc.sjfcontrol wrote:It's the erroneous STATEMENT of enforcement of non-compliant signs. So far as anyone knows, nobody has ever been arrested for it.The Annoyed Man wrote:I don't know about Plano, but the Grapevine reference is to the fact that the Grapevine PD will enforce the non-compliant signs at the Grapevine Mills Mall. There isn't literally a Grapevine version of 30.06, it's just the erroneous enforcement of a non-compliant sign.sjfcontrol wrote:But they aren't enforceable. Texas has a "preemption" law prohibiting municipalities from adopting regulations relating to the transfer, private ownership, keeping, transportation, licensing, or registration of firearms, ammunition, or firearm supplies. See LGC 229.001 (page 55 of the CHL-16 booklet).apostate wrote:Grapevine and Plano. According to reports, both have their own version of 30.06 instead of obeying the Texas one.couzin wrote:OK - maybe I am just clueless - but what cities and/or counties in Texas have their own set of 'laws' that control weapons or ammunition? I've never noticed any difference in any of the cities or counties I've been in over the past 20+ years in Texas.
Nevertheless, the State laws overrule local laws. (But we need a Florida-style law where we can sue the lawmakers personally for invalid laws!)
Here's what they are counting on.... I'm sure they know that the signs aren't 100% perfect. I'm sure they know that a decision to prosecute a "violator" would likely go down in flames. I'm sure they know that you won't beat the ride, but you will beat the time. I'm sure they also know that 99.9% of CHLs are not willing to spend the $100K it will take to prove their innocence. So, they have made a choice NOT to educate the mall ownership about proper signage, and they are probably aware that someone charged with trespassing under 30.06 will beat the rap; they get to leave the mall ownership with the illusion that CHLs are banned from the mall, and they get to not throw a law-abiding CHLer into prison. In other words, they've made a deal with the devil. Why? Tax revenue. Follow the money.
I'm not excusing any of this. I'm just explaining it.