What can we do to support Open Carry?

[peecmkr45]

Other than the usual calls and emails what can we physically do to support the Open Carry Legislation?

 

[jblosser]

It's a good question because there's a lot of myths out there about how to help bills, or at least how a bill becomes a law in Texas. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors and procedural stuff they've set up that allows only a few reps to actually make the decisions while giving all the others that want it political cover to do all they can and still not actually have an impact. So they can do lots to support bills and look good to their constituents, while not having to worry a bill will actually pass and change the status quo. We are working this session on helping educate people on this better and get some standardized answers together but until then....

Right now the bill is pending in committee. This means it's had a hearing but hasn't had a vote. To move forward, at some point the committee chair, Rep Pickett, has to bring it back up. If he doesn't, it's dead. So the only things that can help are things that encourage him to bring it back up. Getting voters in his district to call and email his office is the biggest thing. If they started contacted him by the hundreds, it would move. People outside his district contacting him helps a little but at the end of the day you don't vote for him anyway so you matter a lot less. Contact people you know in El Paso and make sure the word is getting around open carry advocates there that it's entirely up to their guy to do this right now. Keep in mind it's a Democrat district and likely to remain a Democrat district so having Republicans there mad at him is not going to help much either, they're not the ones that will decide if he goes back. Pro-gun voting Democrats are the high value contacts. (This is Texas, and that's a border town--they are not as hard to find as they might be other places.)

He's also been telling people he has to wait until the other open carry bill comes up for a hearing so they can air the difference and figure out which is better. This may be sincere, it may be political cover--a valid excuse, but one that will always be true if he never schedules the other bill for a hearing, or the author tells him not to schedule it. Yes, that kind of thing happens. So people could contact Rep Paddie's office and ask where they see their bill at and what help it needs to move forward. Do this even if you don't like his bill compared to Rep Lavender's--it's not about passing the lesser bill, it's about knocking down the cover in the way of the better one.

One thing that really doesn't help right now is calling your own reps if they're not on the committee or don't have influence over Pickett. They will happily tell you they'll support the bill or anything else you want to hear, because it's completely out of their hands and will stay that way until Pickett does something he may or may not ever do, and they know it.

 

[peecmkr45]

Wow,it's depressing how little inflence citizens can have on legislation.

 

[jblosser]

Wrong takeaway. Citizens can have massive influence, but they have to do specific things. If a few hundred people had shown up for the committee hearing in favor, the bill would get fast tracked and be unstoppable. If a couple dozen organized themselves to call all El Paso voters and find the ones who would make a call to Pickett telling him to pass this out of committee, it would happen. It doesn't take many, but it does take more than the 2 or 3 that are usually working on the stuff with any kind of organized effort.

"It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." This is still the truth, but "tireless" is the real trick most of the time.

 

[Tough Guy]

Wow,it's depressing how little inflence citizens can have on legislation.

So they can do lots to support bills and look good to their constituents,

That's the part I think sucks. These people are suppose to work for the taxpayer not their rich buddy's.