March 17, 2015 was a great day for Texas patriots and the Second Amendment. As promised by the newly empaneled Texas Legislature, SB17, known as Open Carry, was passed under party lines in the Texas Senate 20-11. (It needed 19 votes to pass, which should give us all pause: had we lost two seats or two votes, this bill would have died on the vine as it has for years. Remember—elections have consequences!) It faces a RINO-style boogeyman named Joe Straus in the Texas House, but I think enough liberty-minded politicians understand that their promises must mean something to the citizens who voted them into office and will pass the bill without delay. A day later, SB11, known as Campus Carry, was also passed by the increasingly emboldened Texas Senate. Gov. Greg Abbott has promised to sign the bill the second it hits his desk, and it will take effect on Jan. 1, 2016.
Naturally, the Left now thinks that toothless, right-wing vigilantes will start gunning down black people, Starbucks baristas, and illegal aliens toiling away at the jobs Americans just won’t do, because sadly, that’s all their brains can allow them to digest. They think that the mere sight of a *super scary* gun will create fear or anxiety in people and don’t deter crime. (Tell that to the people whose lives were saved by someone who had access to a weapon and were able to stop a maniac terrorizing or mowing down citizens who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.) They don’t seem to take into account that CHL records show that of the more than 50,000 gun-related crimes in 2013, only 158 were connected to having a Concealed Handgun License (CHL). And now, the C of the CHL is going “bye bye!” and law-abiding Texans (with some common-sense rules) will simply have a Handgun License (HL) and will be able to carry publicly as long as their weapon is holstered.
It’s a beautiful thing to imagine, isn’t it? Think of it: you’re sitting in a Denny’s (say, off 1-10 and Washington, in August 2013), enjoying a booze-fueled Grand Slam (what? It’s late!) when all of the sudden three misunderstood youths barge in and open fire. There just happens to be a Bubba-type good-ole-boy who has a holstered weapon and stands to return fire, thus saving the restaurant from a bloodbath. Sadly, that didn’t happen in 2013 and one customer was killed, and one employee seriously wounded.
Think if that leftist nutjob James Holmes, who opened fire in a Colorado movie theatre in July 2012 and killed 12 and wounded 70, was able to be stopped by one person who had a weapon to be used for purposes just like these? The granola-town of Denver likes to post “Gun Free Zone” in businesses large and small, and what does that get them? Why, it gets people killed because then only lawless psychotics take guns into public places and see his fellow citizens as sitting ducks–which they were.
What if, in Canada in October 2014, a Muslim convert who gunned down a soldier in cold blood, HADN’T been stopped by the quick-thinking badass Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, who, when seeing the nightmare unfolding in the Parliament, calmly walked to his office, retrieved his pistol and gunned down the terrorist before he could kill any others?
The worldwide Left, in their never-ending sanctimony and dripping contempt for law-abiding gun-owners, never likes to confront these basic premises. They only like to wail and moan about stripping citizens of their Second Amendment rights, instead of acknowledging that unfortunately, in a free society, sometimes awful things happen to innocent people. As George Buckley once said, the remedy to offensive speech is not silencing speech—it’s more speech. Gun rights are the same. The answer to gun violence is not taking away guns from innocent people so that the only ones who have weapons are the government and criminals. The answer is akin to what the Texas Senate has done: empower its lawful citizenry with the ability to protect themselves, loved ones, and total strangers against unforeseen danger.
I can guarantee that if a leftist should find him or herself confronted in a Syndey, Australia bakery by a militant Islamist, he or she will pray dearly that someone in that shop is armed—and can end the tragedy before it begins.
Food for thought, Lefties.
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Following is the list of committee members who voted for and against SB11 and SB17 with their Raging Elephants Radio (RER) Liberty Score noted after their town. A score less than 70 should be considered unsatisfactory.
The final vote of the entire Texas Senate was 20-11 on strict party lines.
SB11
Sponsor: Sen. Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury 94.4)
Co-sponsors:
Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe no score compiled)
Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls 71.8)
Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay 73.7)
Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound 78)
Sen. Charles Schwertner (R-Georgetown 70.3)
Committee Member For:
Sen. Joan Huffman (R-Houston 69.7)
Against:
Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston 26.8)
Sen. Judith Zafferini (D-Laredo 24.1)
SB17
Sponsor: Estes
Co-sponsors:
Birdwell
Creighton
Nelson
Committee Members voting yes:
Huffman
Fraser
Schwertner
Voted against:
Ellis
Zaffernini
