Chris McNutt of Texas Gun Rights reportedly went to the homes of three Texas legislators to let them know he wasn’t happy about the fate of a constitutional carry bill stalled in committee. That probably wasn’t the best way to lobby for the bill. And it provided the pols with just the excuse they were looking for to officially kill it.
A bill to let gun owners legally carry handguns without obtaining a state-issued license is dead after an activist, upset that the measure had stalled, was met last week by state troopers outside the Lake Jackson home of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen.
Bonnen, a Republican who was elected Texas House speaker in January, said Friday that the activist’s “gutless intimidation tactics” exposed no-license carry as a bad idea, dooming the legislation.
“I could no longer watch as legislators and their families are incessantly harassed by fanatical gun-rights activists who think laws preventing criminals from carrying a gun should be repealed,” Bonnen said in a written statement.
“Their goal is to eradicate sensible gun policies by allowing anyone to carry a gun without a license and proper training — making it impossible for law enforcement to distinguish between law-abiding gun owners and criminals,” he said. “The fear and terror used to push this agenda has made it clear this is bad public policy.”
– Chuck Lindell in Advocate’s actions kill bill allowing no-permit gun carry
The GOA’s Rachel Malone issued this statement:
Yesterday, Speaker Bonnen made it clear in a media statement that he opposes Constitutional Carry. As we have already said, due to the ridiculous delays on scheduling a hearing for HB 357, the only path to passage is for leadership to prioritize the issue. With this blunt statement of opposition from Speaker Bonnen, we have his answer: he refuses to prioritize Constitutional Carry and he has closed the door to passage of HB 357.
Rep. Stickland announced today that he has withdrawn his request for a hearing because at this point in session, holding a hearing for HB 357 would be pointless political theater. It would be a waste of YOUR time to make the sacrifice to travel to Austin and testify. We don’t want to ask you to make that sacrifice needlessly.
We are by no means backing down from the fight for upholding your liberties, which includes repealing the handgun ban and getting rid of the license requirement for carrying your defensive tool. Your right to keep and bear arms is currently being infringed by Texas law. That is unacceptable and we will never compromise in the fight for liberty.