Wait 'til next year

[tomneal]

Ok. It's not next year but the next session in 2015.

Looks like Texas may need something like this:
http://www.state.tn.us/sos/acts/103/pub/pc0275.pdf
for NFA gun owners.

[JALLEN]

I thought this was going to be an Aggie thread but they don't need to say that anymore.

[Richard_B]

Someone ought to compile a list of Sheriffs who don't sign for consideration next time they run for re-election.

[tomneal]

It's more than just sheriffs.
The District Attorney can sign and so can your city's chief of police.
I suspect there are others.

I am concerned that Sheriffs and DA's are elected in Texas and I am not sure how much the Legislature can control their actions.

[Richard_B]

Your raise an excellent point. Plainly, it would be information many would wish to consider when selecting a candidate to support for any of those positions.

I suppose that a broader brush would be required in any bill seeking to change the authorization from a discretionary one to one where the official must approve the application unless there are specific grounds for the denial, which must be stated in the denial and that the denial be subject to administrative review or appeal to, perhaps, the state Attorney General and subsequent appeal to a District Court.

There are too any political candidates who, in my opinion, slip through the system without adequate detailed information about them being available to the voters. The same would apply to endorsements by various organizations.

Cheers

[srothstein]

Tomneal, the legislature controls the sheriff's and DA's actions all of the time. They wrote and passed the Code of Criminal Procedures which tell them what they can and cannot do. It lays out duties such as a peace officer must arrest, etc. I chose that example because arrests are normally a discretionary item, as is signing off on the ATF forms so it proves that they can pass a similar law. I ebt it would not cause much of a problem other than the initial debate, except for Travis or Harris county (and maybe not even there now.

[MeMelYup]

We need to start a list foe 2015.

[gringo pistolero]

We need to start a list foe 2015.

2015 is too late. Start the foe list now for politicians who talked the talk but didn't walk the walk. And vote against them next year.

[JKTex]

I just looked at the doc linked to figure out what I'm confused about the discussion, and I got more confused.

Are y'all talking about Tennessee, or Texas. If Texas, how does that doc have anything to do with Texas since NFA is a federal process and we don't need anyone to approve a firearm purchase? <-- I like that little smiley dude but if he smiled and didn't look so mad he'd get used more.

[tomneal]

It's a little complicated.

In Harris County Texas there doesn't seem to be a Chief Law Enforcement officer (CLEO) that will sign the BATFE required form for a Class III firearm. (Short Barreled rifle, Full Auto firearm, Suppressor...) The form states that the CLEO doesn't have any knowledge that the NFA Applicant is likely to do bad things with the NFA item.

CLEO sign offs are also, difficult to acquire in many locations throughout the United States.

In Texas, folks that want such a firearm create a NFA (National Firearms Act) Trust. The trust requires some paperwork and maybe a lawyer, but it's fairly simple. One could create a trust to include a spouse and/or a child. Then anyone on the trust can possess the NFA item. (One of them still has to fill out the "Yellow Form" 4473 to take possession of the NFA item from the FFL.)

The BATFE has decided that is a hole in their paper work and want's to require a CLEO sign off for each person in the trust. Their process is currently accepting citizen input before the rule changes.

If the rule changes, it will effectively mean that no one in Harris county will be able to pay the $200 transfer tax to get another NFA item.

In Tennessee there are very few NFA Trusts because state law requires CLEO's to sign the forms in a timely fashion.

What I was trying to say with this thread is:
We should push for a similar law for Texas in 2015.


I thought after the Heller decision, we would all start buying suppressors to be polite to our neighbors.

[tomneal]

My list in no particular order

- CHL's allowed to carry anywhere LEO's are allowed to carry.

- Require CELO's to sign off on BATFE Class III paper work in a timely fashion.

- No-Knock warrants / Dynamic-entry-during-the-night-time warrants. In recent years this seems to have gotten out hand (even in Texas). I am not sure what the solution is but I think it's time to dial-them-back. Maybe requiring on-officer video. Maybe only allowing No Knock warrants for selected felonies. Both Law Enforcement and innocents are dying. Yes, this is firearm related. See: Does Exercising the Second Amendment Invalidate the Fourth Amendment? http://www.ammoland.com/2013/12/does-th ... z2tbmmxaRO

[Wes]

I just looked at the doc linked to figure out what I'm confused about the discussion, and I got more confused.

Are y'all talking about Tennessee, or Texas. If Texas, how does that doc have anything to do with Texas since NFA is a federal process and we don't need anyone to approve a firearm purchase? <-- I like that little smiley dude but if he smiled and didn't look so mad he'd get used more.

I'm not sure what's not clear, but they're saying Texas needs a Law like this one from Tennessee. If you don't have a trust you absolutely do need a Cleo to 'approve' the purchase. Many simply do not want to sign off on your NFA paperwork. A law like this in Texas would require them to do so. Therefor, no need to go the trust route.

[steveincowtown]

Goal #1 on everyone's list should be to make sure Joe Strauss isn't reelected, and if he is make darn sure he isn't made speaker of the house.


Otherwise none of the other goals matter.....

[tomneal]

Texas Speaker of the House - It Means Power!
Postby Charles L. Cotton » Wed Jan 30, 2013 6:38 pm

I agree.
So what do we need to do to get a new Speaker of the House?

[Wes]

Exactly, how do we make sure he isn't speaker again