SB 534 / HB 992 article

[Glockamolie]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 17185.html

AUSTIN — For thousands of Texans, the right to own and carry a gun is no less an essential ingredient of life than the right to own a house, a business or other piece of property.

The Second Amendment and private property rights may even edge out football and give motherhood a run for its money among the values that define the Lone Star State.

And in a Legislature dominated by conservative Republicans, guns and private-property rights have peacefully coexisted in a common political base — at least until now.

This session, business owners — who are among the biggest advocates of private property rights — are up in arms (pun intended) over legislation that would override the restrictions of many employers and allow people who have concealed handgun licenses to bring their pistols onto company property, provided they leave them locked in their cars.

The confrontation is forcing lawmakers to make an unusual choice between two potent forces — the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights advocates on one side and the business community with its deep-pocket campaign contributors on the other.

Battle rages on
So far, the guns are winning, but the shootout isn't over.

One bill, SB534 by Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, was approved 30-0 by the Senate last month. The unanimous vote was made even more impressive by the fact that the bill's opponents include such normally influential forces as the Texas Association of Business, the Texas Oil & Gas Association, Valero, Shell Oil, Chevron USA, Lockheed Martin, Marathon Oil Corp., Koch Industries, the Texas Association of Manufacturers and BNSF Railway.

A similar bill, HB992 by Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, was approved by the House Law Enforcement Committee last month but has been stalled in the House Calendars Committee, which sets the schedule for floor debate and in which similar legislation died two years ago.

Trying again, the Law Enforcement Committee approved SB534 last week, sending it to the Calendars Committee as well.

Hundreds of bills will die in Calendars during the remaining six weeks of the session, but Calendars Chairman Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, was noncommittal about the gun legislation.

"We are opposed to this bill, and we are working to stop it wherever we can," said Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business.

"Our concern is this is a basic property right of employers," he said. "It should be the prerogative of the employer to set the terms of employment," including whether an employee can store a firearm on company property.

Want to write Mr. Hammond? Go here:

http://www.txbiz.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ContactUs

[Venus Pax]

So far, the guns are winning, but the shootout isn't over.