Open Carry, HB 910 Substitute, in Texas Senate now

HB 910, the Texas licensed open carry bill, passed the House by 2/3 margins.  The bill went through the Senate State Affairs Committee, where the Dutton amendment was stripped from it.   Now, being debated on the floor of the full Senate, the debate is whether to put the Dutton amendment back in.   The Dutton amendment specifies that peace officers may not detain open carriers simply to ask if they have a license, but must have probable cause to suspect criminal activity, just like they need for any Terry stop.   The amendment is designed to protect open carriers from police harassment.  Here is the text of the amendment:

CERTAIN INVESTIGATORY STOPS AND INQUIRIES PROHIBITED.   A peace officer may not make an investigatory stop or other temporary detention to inquire as to whether a person possesses a handgun license solely because the person is carrying a partially or wholly visible handgun carried in a shoulder or belt holster.

The second amendment supporters of open carry, represented by C.J. Grisham, have said that the amendment is not important, because of precedent that guards against this type of stop in any case.   Others say that it is useful, because it will prevent the flood of lawsuits that will be required to enforce the judicial rulings in Texas.

A potential advantage for bringing the Dutton amendment back, is that the bill can be restored to a duplicate of the House Bill 910.  Then it does not have to go back to the House for a vote.   It can be engrossed after the Senate third vote and sent to Governor Abbott for signature.  The progress of the bill is being followed closely, with knowledgeable debate on procedure and fine points, on Texasguntalk.com.

The Senate has now postponed debate until 6pm, an hour and a half from now.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

TX: Credible Rumors on Jihadist Shooting at Free Speech Event

The above picture is photo-shopped, and was posted as a clever joke.  The man in the "blue polo shirt" is actually an photo-shopped image of Jerry Miculek, one of the most extraordinary pistol shots of all time.  As Miculek is a gun culture icon, the joke was quickly exposed, but it was highly regarded.  Here is the original wording with the picture:  From ar15.com, page 51:

 My sources on the Deep Web came across this pic. It was taken shortly after the shooting. The guy in the blue polo shirt with the crazy leg rig is said to be the guy who shot the two terrorists, a 42 year police veteran named Benjamin Garrison.

With that bit of humor out of the way, the coverage of the event shows how responsive and accurate the Internet tends to be to breaking events.  Here is a sequence of posts.   From ar15.com: 8:03:

 Wife just got the campus alert... no details... JUST HAPPENED.

Update 8:03pm

one officer shot, non life threatening

2 suspects down armed with ak47's and explosives .

From ar15.com: 8:09

http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/05/03/watch-live-stream-of-the-muhammad-art-exhibit-and-contest/

 Dallasnews.com  8:34

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20150503-breaking-gunfire-reported-at-anti-islam-event-at-garland-isd-facility.ece?hootPostID=43360e32cf3d9fdf3f2c86db6648e3f9

From ar15.com:  8:36
Jocelyn Lockwood @JocelynNBC5 · 5m 5 minutes ago

We were inside the event earlier - security was very tight. $10K+ spent on security per Garland PD. @NBCDFW

From ar15.com:  8:41

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Shots-Fired-at-Prophet-Muhammed-Art-Event-302362751.html

Breaking on Foxnews: 9:12

ETA: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/03/police-shooting-at-muhammad-cartoon-contest-in-texas/?intcmp=latestnews

Al Jeezera  9:16

NOTHING ON FNC, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS...

But Al Jeezera just ran it...and OAN


Showing up on ISIS twitter feeds too...

 From ar15.com: 9:19  (page 6 of thread, 3 May)

 CNN and Fox are on it.

Notice that it was over an hour before the networks really got involved. 

Days later, the thread continued, and served up interesting information that still has not made the networks.   This information came from what appears to be a serious and credible anonymous source.   From ar15.com: (page 50 of thread)

Security officer that was shot last night enjoyed his day off today playing golf. He is in good spirits about the ordeal. I spoke to his daughter last night and it was a flesh wound, in and out. No serious damage of any kind... very lucky.

A lot of people have been very curious about how bad that wound was, so this is welcome information.

A bit further down page 50, there is some more fascinating information that I have not seen anywhere else:

 Gov. Abbott called both Security officer and GPD officer today to express his gratitude to both.

That post is confirmed with a press release from Governor Abbott's office.
This is what you expect a savvy politician to do.  It is telling that the Obama administration has not done anything similar.

Then, on page 53, we get this confirmation of what I have read elsewhere, that it was a Glock in .45 caliber that was used.   It is put forward by the same source for the ankle wound information.  It is a good indication the the officer is a gun guy, along with his superb shooting, of course:   

I can confirm it was a Glock 21 used. At least one mag used and 2 head shots.

Apparently the msm is reporting a glock .40 which is incorrect.

 To sum up, credible rumors that the security officer (Bruce Joiner, from both the ar15.com thread and Governor Abbott's press release) is recovering well, with little permanent effect; that Governor Abbott called the Garland officers to express thanks (confirmed); and that the officer doing the shooting was using a Glock model 21 (Glock model 21s are only made in .45 ACP caliber). 

All interesting information, and hard to find on any of the old media.

©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

NRA: Gun Control’s Branding Problem

This is an excellent, well written article that strikes at the core of disarmists support.

If you consider gun control as a brand of advocacy, you can catch a whiff of Sharper Image in it. The hot new cause (or brand) for those who believed their thinking didn’t stink, gun control had everything going for it in the 1960s and ’70s. It was driven by high-profile assassinations, benefited from the national anti-war/peace movement, and had the support of the nation’s major daily papers, monthly magazines and the three-and-a-half channels that constituted a TV monopoly.

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Bob Owens: Journalists in Fantasyland: How Anti-Gun Media Convince Themselves Gun Ownership Is Declining

Bob does a good job with this article.

One of the more interesting aspects of covering firearms-related news is the volume of data that is out there showing consistent record growth.

Some of that is hard, quantifiable data, such as the statistics showing that firearms manufacturing has roughly tripled since President Obama took office, and doubled from 2010-2013.

The shooting sports industry is seeing not just record sales growth, but growth with incredible staying power. There hasn’t been the expected surge and then crash many expected post-Sandy Hook. There was a tremendous surge, and then sales of nearly everything have remained near peak levels. From firearms to ammunition to holsters, slings, optics and other accessories, there now appears to be a “new normal” median level of consumption, though we’ve not be able to peg precisely what that new normal is just yet as we don’t yet know what that carrying capacity might be.

But what do we know beyond this apparently across-the-board, record-setting sales surge? After all, supporters of gun control are attempting to claim that while sales are up, gun ownership is actually down (PDF).

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Dave Workman: Heat for Texas prof supporting gun control, while NY writer takes different tac

A professor at the University of Texas at Austin is taking heat for an Op-Ed in the Dallas Morning News calling for restrictive gun control following the shootout in Waco, while an opinion in the New York Post yesterday warned that New York officials better pay close attention to this week’s concealed carry victory in the District of Columbia.

It is ironic that an anti-gun-rights opinion would appear in a Texas newspaper in contrast to a pro-constitutional rights opinion in a New York newspaper. There are plenty of reactions to the opinions of Prof. John Traphagan, who teaches religious studies and anthropology, while there does not appear to be a comments section for the New York Post’s piece from Seth Lipsky.

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SC Followup: Both claim Self Defense, Both Arrested

According to the report, both men said the other one fired shots first and each said they acted in self-defense. Both King and Chamberlain told deputies that they fired all five rounds in their weapons. Officers found a number of places where rounds entered King’s residence. Witnesses said they hears the shots being fired, but could not say who fired first. Chamberlain was struck in the foot by one shot and was treated at Self Regional Medical Center before being released to jail personnel. King was transported to the Greenwood County Detention Center.

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FL followup: Suspect who was shot, arrested on Burglary charge

RIVIERA BEACH — A 24-year-old Riviera Beach man who was shot during an argument last month was arrested Tuesday on burglary and assault charges. .

James E. Poole is accused of armed burglary and aggravated assault with a firearm, police said. He was released from the Palm Beach County Jail Wednesday after posting a $30,000 bail bond.


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TX: Wounded Suspects of Home Invasion are Recovering

About 11:40 p.m. Thursday, police responded to 104 N. Alabama St. on reports of a home invasion and shots fired. A person in the house told police two black males armed with a gun had broken into the house. The resident told police he shot at the robbers and they fled in a vehicle.

A short time later, police were notified that two people matching the suspect descriptions were at Northwest Texas Hospital for treatment of gunshot wounds.

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FL: Shots Fired at Burglary Suspects

Investigators have released seven video surveillance images depicting the two burglars and their vehicle involved in a shooting Tuesday night that occurred during an attempted burglary on Palm Beach Boulevard .

A truck rammed the back fence of Discount Battery, 3911 Palm Beach Blvd., and the business owner, who was at the battery shop, shot at the truck, said Sgt. Aaron Colson.

"We have a 'Stand Your Ground' shooting here," he said.

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2A Northern Mariana Islands Amended Complaint Filed 22 April, 2015

The second amendment lawsuit against the Government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands has been amended to include both JAMES C. DELEON GUERRERO, the Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, and LARRISA LARSON, Secretary of the Department of Finance of the Commonwealth.  The amendment was required by the U.S. District Court in order to include the customs policies of the Commonwealth as part of the lawsuit.   The amendment was filed on the 22 of April, 2015.    The amended complaint may be viewed at michellawyers.com(pdf).

The time that it will take to render a decision on the complaint is uncertain, but the court has been making decisions in the case with some regularity.  I would not be surprised to see an opinion by the end of July.  The saipantribune.com summed up the case as follows:

A U.S. Navy Gulf War veteran and his Chinese wife, who suffered serious injuries during a home invasion, have filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the CNMI Weapons Control Act that prohibits all residents from obtaining handguns for self-defense purposes.

David J. Radich and his wife, Li-Rong Radich, are suing Department of Public Safety Commissioner James C. Deleon Guerrero for violation of their right to keep and bear firearms.

The Radich couple, through counsels Daniel T. Guidotti and David G. Sigale, asked the U.S. District Court for the NMI to issue injunctions enjoining Deleon Guerrero from enforcing against them the prohibitions on virtually all CNMI residents from obtaining handguns for self-defense purposes and the probation on obtaining a Weapons Identification Card (WIC) and possessing a firearm for self-defense purposes; and for good cause requirement for obtaining a WIC.

The couple asked the court to declare that such prohibitions are null and void because they infringe on the right of the people to keep and bear arms in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Deleon Guerrero has stated that he expects to lose the case.   From mvariety.com:  

Anticipating an unfavorable ruling from the federal court, Deleon Guerrero and Zarones have asked the Legislature to act “swiftly and without hesitation” to pass an alternative gun control law that is currently pending in the Senate.

Guam, another entity under the umbrella of the U.S. Constitution in the area, has already passed a "shall issue" law because of the Peruta ruling in the Ninth Circuit.   Both Guam and the CNMI fall under the Ninth Circuit.

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

TX: Popular Knife Rights bills Bottled up by Democrat

Two popular bills that would reform antiquated knife laws in Texas are being bottled up by a Democrat legislator.   Both bills have bipartisan support, and passed the House unanimously.  One bill adds knives to the preemption law for the state, so that localities cannot pass insane knife laws that turn a person carrying a pocket knife into a criminal by walking from one side of a street to another, without any notice.  These bills are enforced very selectively to "get" people that the police cannot arrest for other crimes.

One correspondent from Texas, reported a conversation with a San Antonio police officer, about their knife law.   From freerepublic.com, Resolute Conservative writes:

Don’t get me started. I asked a San Antonio cop about this when I heard about it, and the response was, “Oh, we just got that passed so we could jack up the gangbangers - but we wouldn’t enforce it against YOU...”
May have been born at night, but it wasn’t LAST night...

The other bill is a removal of the ban on common and highly desired knives that are arms protected by the second amendment.  Most will find it bizarre that Texas forbids its citizens to carry Bowie knives, for example.  From texasguntalk.com:

Although both HB 905 (knife preemption) and HB 3884 (decriminalization of "illegal knives") passed unanimously in the House, Chairman John Whitmire (D-Houston) is refusing to give them a hearing in the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice.

Texas Legislature Online - 84(R) History for HB 905

Texas Legislature Online - 84(R) History for HB 3884

Please call Senator Whitmire's office ( 512-463-0115), and politely ask that these two bipartisan* bills, which passed the House unanimously, receive a committee hearing as soon as possible.

Please also call the office of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick ( 512-463-0001), and voice your displeasure that the chairman of the committee to which he assigned these universally popular bills is refusing to schedule either bill for a hearing.

*HB 905 has three Republican authors and two Democratic authors. HB 3884 has a Democratic author but wide support from both parties. In the House, both bills had unanimous support in committee and on the floor. National publications like Bloomberg magazine and The Christian Science Monitor have pointed to these bills as part of a larger civil rights battle to prevent the type of discriminatory enforcement of vague knife laws that led to the arrest of Freddie Gray in Boston.

It is time that Texas restores the right to arms that the Republic was born with.  

 ©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

TX: Truck Burglary Suspect Shot

Police believe the suspected burglar was visiting a friend at the apartment complex when he broke into a truck in the parking lot.

The truck's owner apparently saw the suspect, grabbed a gun and shot him, according to officers.

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FL: Home Invasion Gunfight, no Charges?

Unusual that the homeowner does not wish to press charges.

The victim in the home invasion drove himself to a hospital, but his condition is not known.

Deputies believe one of the assailants was also shot, but a search of the neighborhood did not locate anyone.

Orange County deputies said the victim knew the intruders and does not want to press charges.
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TX: Wife Shoots man Assaulting Husband

The sheriff's office said it appeared from their initial investigation that the suspect broke in through the front door, and confronted several people inside. One of the homeowner's arrived home several minutes later and was attacked at the back door. According to authorities, the husband and suspect fought for several minutes, before the husband was able to break free and run inside the home.

The suspect followed the man back inside his home, and the fighting continued. The homeowner's wife ordered the suspect to stop and leave, but when the suspect continued the attack, she shot him once, according to the sheriff's office. Authorities are not saying where the suspect was hit. The husband detained the suspect until deputies arrived.

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Judge Halts DC's Rule Requiring Justification for 2A Rights

The courts may have forced the District of Columbia to recognize its citizens' right to keep and bear arms, but the city did all it could to restrict the number of firearms. When journalist Emily Miller tried to get a gun in February, she was told she was only the 16th person the city deemed had a “good reason” to carry a handgun — probably because she was a journalist writing about the topic. On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the city to stop enforcing the rule making citizens justify their rights, saying it violated the Second Amendment. “The District of Columbia’s arbitrary ‘good reason’/‘proper reason’ requirement … goes far beyond establishing such reasonable restrictions,” the court wrote in the ruling. “Rather, for all intents and purposes, this requirement makes it impossible for the overwhelming majority of law-abiding citizens to obtain licenses to carry handguns in public for self-defense, thereby depriving them of their Second Amendment right to bear arms.” The fight’s not over, though. The city is expected to appeal, and the issue of DC’s gun laws could end up at the Supreme Court once again.

http://patriotpost.us/posts/35295

TX: Open Carry Statement of Intent in Texas Senate Committee

 

HB 910, licensed open carry, has passed the Texas House by large margins (96-35).  A near identical bill, SB 17, passed the Senate by large margins (20-10).  The only real difference in the bills is an amendment added at the third read in the House, to prohibit police from stopping open carriers without any probable cause for doing so. Supporters of the bill say that the amendment is redundant and does not matter;  such stops are already covered by Constitutional law, and are not allowed without probable cause.   Here is the AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT, which explains the purpose of taking the amendment out of the bill.   From state.tx.us:

Texas is one of only six states that do not permit their citizens to openly carry modern handguns under any circumstances.  The other five states are California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and South Carolina.  Forty-four states allow open carry in some form. 

  

H.B. 910 would authorize open carry of modern handguns in Texas by anyone with a license, so long as the handguns are carried in shoulder or belt holsters.  The new license to carry created by this bill would replace the existing concealed handgun license.  Applicants would have to meet the same requirements that they currently do to get a concealed handgun license.

The committee substitute to H.B. 910 removes language from the House's engrossed version providing that the police cannot stop someone who is openly carrying and demand to see identification simply because the person is openly carrying.  This language was redundant, because basic principles of constitutional law already establish that the fact that a person is engaged in an activity that is only legal with a license is not sufficient cause for the police to stop the person.  All police detentions require reasonable suspicion of criminal activity at a minimum, and that will remain the case for people who openly carry in Texas after this bill becomes law.

While the Author's statement of intent does not become part of the law, it is germane in interpreting the law.  In this case, it would be easy, because the statement of intent becomes part of the historical record in the passage of the bill, and is available for anyone to read.   Any future AG will have it at their disposal, if there is ever a need to give an opinion on what the legislature intended when they passed the bill. 

Clearly, it does not give blanket authority to police to stop open carriers to check to see if they have a state permit.

 I expect to see HB-910 before the entire Senate on Friday, the 22nd of May, but it has not yet shown up on the official schedule.

©2015  by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Open Carry in Lordsburg, NM

On my way to the NRA annual meeting, I passed through Lordburg, New Mexico on I-10.   It is a convenient place to fuel the truck and myself, so I pulled into a truck stop to grab a sandwich. 

Open  carry is protected by the New Mexico Constitution.  I was carrying a Glock 17 (9mm for those who have not kept up with Glock nomenclature).  The young woman behind the counter had a streak of purple hair, multiple piercings, a sizable tattoo on her right forearm, and was friendly, courteous, helpful, efficient and pleasant to speak with.   I could not ask for better service. 

I saw a couple of sheriff deputies walk in, in full armor.  I wondered if they might be going to SWAT training.  They glanced in my direction, I in theirs.  I would say that we each noted the presence of other armed persons. 

The manager at the cash register asked if I was carrying a .40 cal.  I said no, it was a 9mm, but the Glocks are the same size in both calibers.

I paid for my sandwich, and walked out the door to my truck.  Other than the friendly conversation, no one paid much attention.

That is the sort of experience most open carriers have in most places.  People generally do not care or do not notice.   Those that do, mostly do nothing.  The vast majority of interactions are of friendly interest.  

©2015  by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

Dave Workman: Astroturf v. grassroots: The ‘rights versus regulations’ battle continues

While the well-funded Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility (WAGR) is planning its third annual fund-raising luncheon next month – and today sent out an e-mail reminder – the financially lean Protect Our Gun Rights (POGR) team yesterday warned in its own funding appeal that “The billionaire gun banners…are at it again!”

“They are beginning the summer,” POGR said of the opposition, “with a MAJOR swanky fundraiser on June 4, 2015 in downtown Seattle! (As if Mike Bloomberg, Nick Hanauer, and the other billionaires supporting taking your rights away didn’t have enough cash already).”

When it comes to gun control versus gun rights, the prohibitionists seem far better funded, thanks to the deep pockets of wealthy elitists who just cannot seem to abide by the fact that average citizens have a right to self-determination, as well as self-defense. These middle class Americans can’t afford armed private security, but they can afford to buy a firearm.

The WAGR group is lamenting that lawmakers in Olympia want to make common sense changes in gun laws to protect the privacy rights of their constituents. They believe that constitutional rights should never be up to a public vote that may be popular now, but what about next year?

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From Metrocosm.com: NFA Registered Weapons by State

 The excellent article to go with this graphic is at metrocosm.com.  At the article, the graphic is interactive, and allows you to click on a state to see the individual statistics.   Max Galka hit a home run with this article.  It takes a fair amount of work to do it, and it shows. 

MI: Armed Dialysis Patient stops Armed Robbery

The 49-year-old victim was approached by the suspect around 4:40 a.m. outside DeVita Dialysis on the 6000 block of Dixie Highway, police said. The victim had just arrived for an appointment when the suspect approached the vehicle from a wooded area between the dialysis building and adjacent Rite Aid.

The suspect stood at the passenger side of the vehicle and asked for the victim’s wallet, police said. The victim refused, and the suspect pulled a small revolver from inside his hoodie.

The victim told police he then pulled his own gun on the suspect and said, “Do you really want to do this?”

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