3 Boxes of BS

These bills are working their way through the biennial Legislation; let try to push our Senators and Representatives into passing a few (or all) of them.

House Bill 47 reduces the class time required for a CHL to 4 to 6 hours from the current 10 or so.

House Bill 508  Makes it illegal for a public employee to wrongly post or provide notice that a place or building is posted 30.06 (prohibited for Concealed Carry ). This would be helpful because some public employees are illegally posting notices.

House Bill 698 a — This one is really needed. Currently everyone has to submit digitally taken fingerprints to the state to get a CHL. Problem? Some areas don’t have an authorized location with easy travel distance. Heck, here in the metroplex there are only 1 or 2 locations near me. The bill allows changes to rule to allow for normal finger printing if there is no facility within 25 miles.

House Bill 700  OPEN CARRY – this bill would let anyone with a Concealed Handgun License Openly Carry in the State. I really want this one to pass.

Senate Bill 182 and House Bill 972  Campus Carry  — It does not make sense that we trust people to carry on one side of an imaginary line but not the other. Schools are not more stressful then other places (like roads, eh). And the majority of people who are qualified to carry aren’t the 18-21 year olds living on campus getting drunk every week the media and the antis try to make them out to be. They are the veterans, the cops, the homemakers and people seeking second careers.

Senate Bill 299   Hadn’t heard of this one until recently. It is a great idea. In Texas, if your firearm “prints” (is discernible because the shape is visible through your cover garment) or is or is otherwise noticeable, even accidentally,  then it is not ‘concealed’. And that comes with a hefty fine. This bill removes the penalty for accidental exposure. Even if we pass Open Carry, we still need this bill because many folks will still carry concealed.

HB 1077  Parking Lot bill for colleges and universities — makes sense to keep them from implementing policies on what students can keep in their cars.

HB 1078 Removes the penalty for carrying on college or university premises. I would rather remove the restriction completely but this works also.

HB 1142  One to make the nannies and ninnies wet the bed. Teaching the 2nd Amendment and firearm safety in high school as an elective course. I like it but low priority. It would be a start to changing the culture .

HB 1194   Another Open Carry Bill. Will have to look at the differences between this and HB700

HB 1298  This one is needed. Currently if a school is having a field trip someplace; any CHL holder near by or in that location suddenly is violating the law. This would remove that restriction for everyone not a student, teacher or associated with the field trip.

HB 1304  House version of SB 299 removing restriction against inadvertent or accidental display of a concealed firearm.

Find out who represents you (if you don’t already know) here and let’s get on the ball contacting them. Lots of great bills here.
We don’t have to just resist the anti-rights bills; we can push to expand our rights and keep the antis on defense.

Has been introduced in the Texas State Legislature, time to start making some phone calls folks.

Students with concealed handgun licenses could soon carry guns on Texas college campuses.

More than adozen state senators have signed on toSenate Bill 182, also known as the  “Campus Personal Protection Act.”

The bill’s primary author,Senator Brian Birdwell,said the bill is about preserving the 2nd Amendment.

“This affords CHL holders, one of the most lawful group of citizens in our state, to be able exercise that 2nd amendment right to go on to the campus of higher learning to be able defend themselves and protect their right to self-preservation, God forbid, some act of evil be perpetrated,” Birdwell said.

This is a bill that really needs to pass this year. We came close last year but ran out of time. Let’s start with the phone calls and emails early this year and push for this bill.

Hancock said the bill would not just affect students.

“And really more what you’re talking about more with a CHL on a college campus is really you’re probably addressing more professors, university employees then you are actually students,” Hancock said.

That is a point that many people overlook; prohibiting Concealed Carry on campus affects more than just students. Think of the people working on campus getting there before sun up and leaving long after sunset; they are forbidden from the most effective means of protection. We trust those people with the care and instruction of our kids yet we say we don’t trust them to carry a gun. It defies common sense, doesn’t it?

State Senators who have signed on as Authors for Senate Bill 182 -

Birdwell, Campbell, Deuell, Eltife, Estes, Hancock, Hegar, Nelson, Nichols, Patrick, Paxton, Schwertner, Taylor, Williams

There is a companion bill in the House HB 972. So far –

Primary Author – Fletcher;  Joint Authors – Flynn,  Lavender, Burkett; Coauthors – Bohac, Carter, Goldman, Larry Gonzales, Hughes, Doug Miller, Ralph Sheffield, Simpson, Springer, Stickland, Van Taylor, Ed Thompson, Toth, Scott Turner, White, Zedler

I’m not surprised but am disappointed that neither Senator Wendy Davis or Representative Diane Patrick aren’t listed on those bills.

This folks is a great opportunity to fight back against the anti-rights cultists. Let’s make them defend why our kids, our brothers/sisters, moms and dads can’t protect themselves on campus. Let’s push them into trying to explain which of the professors or administrators they don’t trust to carry a firearm. The harder we push on this, the less time they have to push on magazine capacity limits or outlawing private sales.

Please join the discussion.

State Representative Diane Patrick  provided this response to an email asking her position on new gun control laws and support for changes to several existing laws.

 

I have a record of supporting Second Amendment rights, and I have no plans to file any legislation pushing for any additional gun control laws.  Thank you for sharing your opinions.  I appreciate hearing from constituents.  Happy New Year!

Glad to hear that Representative Patrick and as I said in my follow up email; I also want a pledge not to support legislation filed by others.

Call, write, email, show up; keep pestering them until they realize this is any area where they should not even think about pushing restrictions.

I’m not sure if I agree with many people’s sentiment that gun control laws have no chance; Congress has pulled too many shenanigans for me to be comfortable with that thought. For way too long, We the People haven’t pulled our weight in making sure our representatives are just that.

We need to stand up and tell those making laws and regulations to increase liberty, not restrict it. We need to stand up and tell those pushing ineffective ‘gun control laws’ to address the real problems; mental health and a revolving door justice system to start.

Let’s not settle for another legislative act that hurts many for the actions of a few; we are better than this.

Please join the discussion.

While I can appreciate conservation efforts, I think there are better things for the City of Arlington to be spending taxpayer money on, don’t you?

The City of Arlington wants residents to “Go With the Flow” and replace an older toilet with one of the 500 free high-efficiency models they are offering.

And to top it off, the city is offering this crappy deal to everyone regardless of income.

The city says there is no income requirement to receive a new toilet, and that units are available on a first-come, first served basis.

Incredible — guess the 99% are too busy to protest this. And where is the Green Party?

I understand that the old toilet may not be reused and agree to properly dispose, destroy, or disable the old toilet.

Reduce, reuse, recycle — guess that doesn’t apply to government programs, eh.

And isn’t it nice to know that our government has their priorities straight?

Will you be picking the toilet up yourself?  Yes       NO
name of person picking up toilet (photo ID required):

Yeah, we need an idea to pick up a taxpayer provided toilet but the federal courts are blocking the same requirement to vote.

And things just keep piling up

- A plumbing permit is required to replace the older toilet. The permit is covered under the program and must be obtained prior to replacing the toilet. Final details will be provided with the toilet pick-up.

That’s right boys and girls; we need a permit to replace a fixture in our own houses !!!

Wait, there is more. For the low low price of ‘free’; you get to give up your right to privacy.

I agree to an inspection of my newly installed toilet upon notification by a representative of the AWU and complete a post-installation survey.

Isn’t it time to vote them all out and start over again?

Please join the discussion.

….the Tea Party is OVER !

Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz was headed toward victory Tuesday night, pulling off a stunning coup and besting veteran Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a fierce, hard-fought, multi-million dollar Republican quest for Texas’ first open Senate seat in a decade.

In the GOP battle that became “establishment” versus Tea Party, Cruz held 56 percent of the vote to Dewhurst’s 44 percent, with 6.780 of 7,957 precincts reporting.

Looks like another case where the rumor is wrong  the leftstream media & pundits were a little premature in their desire to declare the Tea Party dead.

A while back, our neighborhood was ‘selected’ to be part of a trial program using roll around carts instead of smaller bins.

I wish I would have saved the literature, they really gave it a big to-d0.

I did find this on the city’s website:

Residents in the pilot areas should begin using their new carts February 1, 2012. The pilot program will end March 31, 2012.

During this time, no other changes to curbside garbage and recycling services will occur. Collection days, frequency of collection and acceptable materials will remain the same. The only change for you is the switch from using a recycling bin to a cart.

Note the “no other changes” aspect of it. How many of you expected that to be true? I didn’t.

The only thing that was unexpected was how long it took for the contractor to come out with a rate increase request.

ARLINGTON — Republic Waste Services wants Arlington residents to pay about $1 more per month to help the company recoup a planned $10.1 million investment in a new recycling program and natural gas fueling station.

That’s right…they want us to help them recoup an investment; sounds reasonable doesn’t it?

OH HECK NO!!

The carts can be picked up mechanically by collection trucks instead of workers.

The move would allow the company to reduce the number of recycling collection workers from three to one per truck, make the job safer, reduce litter and help extend the life of the city’s landfill by encouraging people to recycle more, a company representative told the Arlington City Council on Tuesday night.

The company will be able to reduce the number of workers, reduce the number of injuries and worker compensation claims, and reduce the number of trips they make to the landfill — all saving them money and they want to charge US more while doing it.

Folks, I don’t mind a contractor getting paid an honest amount for a job done well but let’s be reasonable here. It is a monopoly on a utility, there is no competition here.

We, the citizens, want to help reduce costs but not just to put more profit into the company’s pocket.

However, only 52 percent of respondents said they somewhat agreed or strongly agreed that a rate hike of up to $1 a month would be worth the switch.

If you look at the survey (PDF warning), only 37% of the people strongly agreed they would be willing to pay a $1 more per month to use the carts.

And the switch to Compressed Natural Gas — why should we pay to update the company’s fleet of vehicles. Isn’t that a planned activity that should be covered in the existing costs?

Even with the proposed fee increase, Arlington’s monthly garbage rate is lower than many area cities, including Fort Worth, Dallas, Plano and Grand Prairie, according to a staff report given to council members.

That is a good thing but the way to make sure it stays lower isn’t to increase fees while reducing costs for the collection company — Let’s say no to the rate increase.

By the way, Arlington residents (I have one or two as readers) I have the contact information for the City Council on the lower right hand side of my blog. Feel free to use it as needed.