OMG - If you own a gun in Texas, look what almost happened...

[derby378]

If you're with the Brady Campaign, CSGV, Million Mom March, or someone similar, I beg your indulgence for one minute - this could have been really serious.

Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis (District 13) tried to sneak a virulent gun-grabbing measure into another bill last year.

Senate Bill 734 by Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) prohibits municipalities from restricting the discharge of firearms on large tracts of land they annex, as long as the shooters comply with safety and distance regulations. But Sen. Ellis tried to amend the bill with a measure that would not only ban semi-automatics in Texas - it would completely outlaw them.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/legislature/entries/2005/03/index.html

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, tried to amend the bill to include a ban on assault weapons, explaining, "All I’m doing is making a good bill better. This is not an anti-gun amendment, it’s a pro-hunter amendment."

No thanks, said Williams. And the Senate agreed, rejecting Ellis’ amendment 19-8.

Good thing, too. Have you ever seen this anti-freedom bill? Here it is in PDF format:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/cgi-bin/tlo/textframe.cmd?LEG=79&SESS=R&CHAMBER=S&BILLTYPE=B&BILLSUFFIX=01386&VERSION=1&TYPE=B

Here's the part that really set off alarm bells in my head:

Sec. 46.055. SEMIAUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS PROHIBITED. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly possesses,
manufactures, transports, repairs, sells, or offers to sell a semiautomatic assault weapon...
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that:
(1) the semiautomatic assault weapon is a firearm manufactured before Janurary 1, 1899;
(2) the person lawfully possessed the weapon on August 31, 2005;
(3) the person's conduct was incidental to the performance of an official duty by the armed forces or national guard, a governmental law enforcement agency, or a correctional facility; or
(4) the weapon is one sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee and by USA Shooting and is used solely for competitive target shooting purposes.

JANUARY 1, 1899?!?!? Are you freakin' kidding me, Sen. Ellis? That just blows my mind.

"Not an anti-gun amendment," my eye. We've got to watch this turkey carefully. Unfortunately, he's running unopposed for District 13 Senator this year in the primaries. Youtch.

[Vogon_Glory]

1. Sure It Wasn't To Sabotage Williams' Bill? That Would Do It n/t

[BrightKnight]

2. I can not take it at face value.

No sane politician of any party would actually try to outlaw most of the guns in Texas. No sane legislature would expect ANY other legislator to vote for it.

This had to be a tactical move.

(Give us something to energize the NRA goons and we will kill a bad bill.)

[Czolgosz]

3. "outlaw most of the guns in Texas"? The exceptions include every lawfully

owned gun in Texas, plus every illegally owned gun that is not semiautomatic, plus every every illegally owned semiautomatic that is owned for the purposes of Olympic shooting or for law enforcement or for military service or for historical purposes.

This bill would affect no guns currently legally owned in Texas. Other than the fact that it would clearly piss of the gun nuts, what's so bad about regulating semiautomatic guns? Do we need semiautomatic guns to rid ourselves of the unruly domesticated quail? I'm just asking . . .

[derby378]

4. Huh?

Semi-automatics are currently legal in Texas, so they clearly would not be exceptions to Ellis' gun-grab.

Remember, Ellis wasn't proposing regulating these guns; he was proposing outlawing them. How many semi-autos were manufactured before January 1, 1899? That's when Ellis' cutoff date is.

Tactical move or not, if his measure was adopted and passed by our state legislature, my father-in-law, who is a WWII Army veteran, a Purple Heart recipient, a former POW of the Japanese, and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, would be ordered to turn over his M1. This bill threatened to turn this man who served his country into a common criminal. And I cannot abide that.

[Czolgosz]

5. "It is a defense ... that ... the person lawfully possessed the weapon on

August 31, 2005." That means every semiautomatic weapon which is legally owned as of August 2005 is grandfathered into a very broad exclusion. "How many semi-autos were manufactured before January 1, 1899" doesn't really matter because that exception is to encompass all the illegally owned historical weapons -- it's a separate narrow exception in addition to the much broader grandfather clause designed to accommodate ancient guns which are unlicensed (generally because they are kept as family heirlooms and not for shooting).

Your father-in-law would not be ordered to turn over his M1 (unless he owns it illegally). Perhaps he would be restricted in purchasing new M1s unless he met any one of the several broad exceptions, but his ownership of his current M1 is grandfathered.

I'm not saying I favor the law, but the law is not what some people are spinning it as. No one is proposing to take away anyone's legally owned guns. This is just a measure to assist law enforcement in controlling semiautomatic guns in the future. It may be heavy handed, I haven't looked at the issue closely enough to say one way or the other, but it is certainly not a "we're coming to get your guns" law and anyone who says it is should stop getting their news from the NRA newsletter.

[derby378]

6. Okay, I see your point...

I did misread part of the bill. My apologies.

But I would say that trying to pass this sort of bill in Texas is just plain crazy.

[Czolgosz]

7. Crazy or not, it seems like political suicide in Texas although other

states have similar laws.

[benEzra]

9. You can count the states that do on one hand...

Crazy or not, it seems like political suicide in Texas although other states have similar laws.

You can count the states that do on one hand...but dozens of states have considered and rejected such laws, including mine (NC). And yes, it is political suicide--and not just in Texas.

[Vogon_Glory]

8. When Gatling Guns Are Outlawed...

When Gatling guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have gatling guns.

[cosmik debris]

10. I support a ban on assault weapons

And I am puzzled by your attitude. Our 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments have been unilaterally repealed and you are going ape-shit over a FAILED attempt to regulate the FUTURE of assault weapons. What strange priorities????