Campus Carry

[sic'em]

Howdy all. As a current college student, one of the most important gun related legislative issues being addressed in this session, from my perspective, is campus carry (SB 182, etc). What is your take on this issue? Do you agree that it should be allowed as I do? I assume that is a somewhat unnecessary question, but I am sure there are some people around here who disagree with it. Also, for those who are more familiar with the current legislative environment than I am, what kind of chances are we looking at? Much like OC, this is an issue that has been visited time and again and just seems to keep falling short of the hopes of second amendment advocates and those of us who would like to be able to defend ourselves anywhere and everywhere. Thanks in advance.

[AEA]

I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.

It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.

And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.

Unfortunately, I believe eventually this Country (as we know it) will end. And that ..........is not good.

Welcome to the Forum. I wish I had better news for you.

[jmra]

I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.

It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.

And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.

Unfortunately, I believe eventually this Country (as we know it) will end. And that ..........is not good.

Welcome to the Forum. I wish I had better news for you.

I think he's going to want to throw that bowl of Corn Flakes away.

[J.R.@A&M]

You would probably be interested to read the many archived board discussions related to campus carry in the previous two legislative sessions. By keeping up with those threads, I learned a lot about the issue and the process.

[ajwakeboarder]

First off, welcome to the forum. I take it you go to Baylor, I'm a TSTC student. As stated above, Campus Carry does have a slightly better chance this session. Unfortunately, with the battle to guard our rights from the federal government, a lot of gun owners are being distracted from supporting campus carry. I'm not saying they don't support it, but they are calling reps. to combat the feds instead of calling reps. to support campus carry. We'll see what happens, but right now, i'm only optimistically hopeful.

[gunslinger15]

I am the president of the campus carry organization at WTAMU. We have been working really
hard in this battle. Last week I was talking to our student body president who had just attended
a meeting in Austin discussing campus related topics campus carry being a major one of those. He
told me that after attending the meeting he is pretty certain campus carry is going to pass. He also changed
his stance to pro carry after this meeting. We will continue to do everything we can to support this legislation.
After a polling of our student body 70% were in support of allowing campus carry. Granted we are in the Texas
Panhandle so your mileage may vary.

[S_3]

I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.

It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.

And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.

You fell for the old red herring trick. Republicans have a 63% majority in the Texas House of Representatives and a 61% majority in the Texas Senate. Last session they had 67% of the House and the same 61% majority in the Senate. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are both Republicans and were last session.

If it's important to the Republicans, they can pass it. If they don't pass it, that says something too.

[chasfm11]

I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.

It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.

And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.

You fell for the old red herring trick. Republicans have a 63% majority in the Texas House of Representatives and a 61% majority in the Texas Senate. Last session they had 67% of the House and the same 61% majority in the Senate. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are both Republicans and were last session.

If it's important to the Republicans, they can pass it. If they don't pass it, that says something too.

Actually, I think it says a lot about Joe Strauss and the Democrats who keep him in power. My prediction, when he retained the Speaker's chair, is that there would be a pittance of Conservative legislation passed in this session in spite of the Republican majorities.

I know that the parking lot bill made it through the 2011 session. So did the expansion to watercraft, if I remember correctly. I don't expect to see Campus carry or Charles' bill to eliminate most of the restrictions on CHL carry. And it will stay that way as long as Strass is in power.

[Douva]

I doubt that you will find any established person on this Forum that disagrees with the principle of it.

It looks to me (so far) that the chances of it passing this time are a bit better than last session. Going from "NONE" last session to "SLIM" this session.

And the reason that I believe this is because there are two many Democrats in Texas,....... and more coming everyday.

You fell for the old red herring trick. Republicans have a 63% majority in the Texas House of Representatives and a 61% majority in the Texas Senate. Last session they had 67% of the House and the same 61% majority in the Senate. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are both Republicans and were last session.

If it's important to the Republicans, they can pass it. If they don't pass it, that says something too.

Actually, I think it says a lot about Joe Strauss and the Democrats who keep him in power. My prediction, when he retained the Speaker's chair, is that there would be a pittance of Conservative legislation passed in this session in spite of the Republican majorities.

I know that the parking lot bill made it through the 2011 session. So did the expansion to watercraft, if I remember correctly. I don't expect to see Campus carry or Charles' bill to eliminate most of the restrictions on CHL carry. And it will stay that way as long as Strass is in power.

*DING* *DING* *DING* We have a winner!

Having majority support in each chamber of the Texas Legislature is only the first small step toward passing a bill. Between the executive and legislative branches of the Texas government, there are six individuals who can single-handedly kill a bill. On top of that, there are a multitude of ways for key and even not-so-key legislators to stall a bill. Remember, the Texas Legislature meets for 140 days every other year--it doesn't take much stalling to kill a bill.

If Speaker Straus doesn't want a bill to pass, he doesn't need to exert the official powers of the Office of the Speaker in order to kill it. He can simply ask the chair of the committee that hears the bill and the chair of the Calendars committee (both of whom he appoints) to each stall the bill for a few weeks. In the end, neither of the committee chairs is solely responsible for the death of the bill (the chair of the committee that heard it can claim that he gave it to Calendars in plenty of time for them to put it on the calendar, and the chair of Calendars can claim that he received it too late to place it high enough on the Calendar), and to the public, Straus looks like the "hands-off" Speaker he claims to be.

Even relatively powerless members of the legislature can stall a bill. Senators can formally "tag" a bill in committee, requiring that they receive advance written notice before a hearing. Representatives on the Calendars committee can informally "tag" a bill, resulting in the bill being sent to the bottom of the list of bills to be considered by the committee. Representatives on the floor can search a bill for even the smallest typos and, if one is found, use it as the basis for a "point of order" to send the bill back to committee (or, in some cases, kill the bill altogether). If the bill makes it to the floor and there is no valid point of order to be raised, opponents in the House can work together to slow down all legislation via "chubbing" (as they did in 2009, to block voter ID) to ensure that time runs out before the bill is reached. Opponents in the Senate can launch a good ol' fashioned filibuster (as Wendy Davis did at the end of the 2011 session).

The short and long of it is that passing a bill is difficult. Passing a controversial bill is EXTREMELY difficult. Anyone who thinks that majority support is the deciding factor does not understand the Texas Legislature.

[sic'em]

Well dang. Not quite the outlook I was hoping for, but I can't say that I am surprised.

ajwakeboarder:
I am a Baylor student. Unfortunately, the attitude among a good number of faculty and presumably the administration here is decidedly hostile toward CC on campus.

gunslinger15:
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Students for Concealed Carry on Campus organization is pretty small, but they are hard workers and believe in what they are fighting for. Glad to hear of the positive response from your student body president, and I hope he is correct. I don't believe support for campus carry at Baylor is quite as strong as you are fortunate enough to enjoy. Students spend most of their time in the "Baylor bubble" where everything is usually fine and dandy, so they see no need to allow the right to defend oneself. I only hope this idea doesn't come back to bite us anytime in the future.

Hopefully the Republicans can and will pass this bill, as well as others relating to second amendment rights, but I must say I have lost faith in the party as a whole of late. They seem to have had trouble standing up when it really counts.