These Texas Representatives May Have Killed Open Carry - Please Contact Them!

[Bartholomew Roberts]

For those of you not following the Open Carry political saga in Texas closely, let me give a short summary. Recently, the House voted to send the Open Carry bill to the Senate with the Dutton Amendment (shown below). The Senate stripped out the Dutton Amendment in Committee; but Senator Huffhines later proposed an ALMOST identical amendment from the floor that was accepted.
The two amendments are posted below for your comparison:

Dutton Amendment –
Sec. 411.2049. CERTAIN INVESTIGATORY STOPS AND INQUIRIES PROHIBITED. A peace officer may not make an investigatory stop or other temporary detention to inquire as to whether a person possesses a handgun license solely because the person is carrying a partially or wholly visible handgun carried in a shoulder or belt holster.

Huffhines Amendment –
Sec. 411.2049. CERTAIN INVESTIGATORY STOPS AND INQUIRIES PROHIBITED. A peace officer may not make an investigatory stop or other temporary detention to inquire as to a person's possession of a handgun license solely because the person is carrying in a shoulder or belt holster a partially or wholly visible handgun.

The following legislators voted YES for the Dutton Amendment, but when presented with damn near identical language in the Huffhines Amendment, voted NO and have put the passage of Open Carry in serious doubt. If you wish to question your legislator about this hypocrisy, I have done everything I know to do to make it easy for you. If you don’t want to bother with what district you live in, I’ve listed the counties for a quicker reference. All you need to do is click on the email link. Please take just a moment of your time and get involved to ask these legislators why they were OK with the Dutton Amendment language but voted against the Huffhines Amendment language? And please share your responses with the rest of us.

Who is my Texas Representative and District?
Anderson, Charles – Represents McLennan County – District 56 Email
Ashby. Trent – Angeline, Houston, Leon, Madison, San Augustine, Trinity Counties – District 57 Email
Aycock, Jimmie Don – Lampasas, Bell Counties – District 54 Email
Bohac, Dwayne – Harris County – District 138 Email
Bonnen, Dennis – Brazoria, Matagorda Counties – District 25 Email
Bonnen, Greg – Galveston County – District 24 Email
Burkett, Cindy – Dallas County – District 113 Email
Cook, Bryan – Anderson, Freestone, Hill, Navarro Counties – District 8 Email
Dale, Tony – Williamson County – District 136 – Email
Davis, Sarah – Harris County – District 134 – Email
Farney, Marsha – Burnet, Milam, Williamson Counties – District 20 Email
Fletcher, Allan – Harris County – District 130 – Email
Frank, James – Archer, Baylor, Clay, Foard, Know, Wichita Counties – District 69 – Email
Galindo – Bexar County – District 117 – Email
Geren – Tarrant County – District 99 – Email – If there is any Representative on this list who deserves a break, it may be Rep. Geren as he sponsored the NFA Shall Sign bill. However, if I lived in his district, I would still want to know why he voted as he did.
Goldman, Craig – Tarrant County – District 97 Email
Gonzales, Larry – Williamson County – District 52 – Email
Harless, Patricia – Harris County – District 126 – Email
Herrero, Abel – Nueces County – District 34 - Email
King, Ken – Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Castro, Cochran, Donley, Gray, Hale, Hansford, Hemphill, Hockley, Lamb, Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Roberts, Swisher, Yoakum Counties – District 88 - Email
King, Phil – Parker, Wise Counties – District 61 - Email
Koop, Linda – Dallas County – District 102 - Email
Larson, Lyle – Bexar County – District 122 - Email
Meyer, Morgan – Dallas County – District 108 - Email
Miller, Doug – Gillespie, Kendall, Comal Counties – District 73 - Email
Miller, Rick – Fort Bend County – District 26 Email
Moody, Joe – El Paso County – District 78 - Email
Morrison, Geanie – Aransas, Calhoun, DeWitt, Goliad, Refugio, Victoria Counties – District 30 - Email
Murphy, Jim – Harris County – District 133 - Email
Pena, Gilbert – Harris County – District 144 - Email
Sheets, Kenneth – Dallas County – District 107 - Email
Sheffield, J. D. – Erath, Comanche, McCulloch, Mills, Hamilton, Coryell, San Saba, Somvervell –District 59 - Email
Smith, Wayne – Harris County – District 128 - Email
Smithee, John – Dallam, Hartley, Oldham, Deaf Smith, Randall, Parmer – District 86 - Email
Stephenson, Phil – Fort Bend, Jackson, Wharton Counties – District 85 - Email
Villaba, Jason – Dallas County – District 114 - Email
Zerwas, John – Fort Bend County – District 28 - Email

Please share this with other gunboards as well. I have a AR15.com/VBB friendly formatted document in Word I will be happy to share with anyone who wishes to repost this on other forums so you don't even have to do any work there either. Just IM me.

 

[Dazen]

Thank you for taking the time to post this.

 

[JRH6856]

Here are the house members on the conference committee:

Rep Phil King 512-463-0738
Rep Charlie Geren 512-463-0610
Rep Larry Phillips - 512-463-0297 (chair)
Rep DeWayne Burns 512-463-0538
Rep Poncho Nevárez 512-463-0566

Does anyone have the senators?

 

[J.E. Walker]

PHil King- NRA Endorsed

Charles Geren- co-authored HB 910Author and Sponsor of 910

Dwayne Burns
authored amendment reducing penalties for walking past a 30.06 sign

Larry Phillips -authored Hb 910 -open carry.

Pancho Navarez- Democrat
introduced a bill that would replace the current 30-06 sign with a version businesses would be more likely to post. Praised by Moms! Demand! Action!

Fwightened by aggressive unlicensed-open carry activists.

 

[tarosean]

Thanks for your hard work... B.R.


I am livid. Esp since my rep is listed.

I let him have it. Doubt Ill get a response though... :banghead::banghead:

 

[JRH6856]

PHil King- NRA Endorsed

Charles Geren- co-authored HB 910Author and Sponsor of 910

Dwayne Burns
authored amendment reducing penalties for walking past a 30.06 sign

Larry Phillips -authored Hb 910 -open carry.

Pancho Navarez- Democrat
introduced a bill that would replace the current 30-06 sign with a version businesses would be more likely to post. Praised by Moms! Demand! Action!

Fwightened by aggressive unlicensed-open carry activists.

King and Geren voted yesterday not to concur with the bill sent from the Senate after voting for the house version that was initially sent to the Senate Navarez has always opposed the bill.

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Open carry is on its way to the Governor! Thanks to all who got involved!

 

[tmoore912]

Congratulations Texas. Well done.


Greg Abbott ‏@GregAbbott_TX 3 hours ago
Open Carry just passed in both the Texas House & Senate. Next destination: My Pen. #txlege #tcot @NRA
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[JSH1]

I just read that the bill passed but some changes had been made:

1. You will need a license to open carry just as you do for concealed carry
2. Police can stop citizens open carrying to verify they have the proper license

 

[barnbwt]

"Police can stop citizens open carrying to verify they have the proper license"
Pursuant to the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution...

 

[Crayfish]

How exactly is that "pursuant to the 4th amendment"? I guess I don't understand that. Open carry here does not require a permit and therefore is not a reason to be stopped by police. Makes the most sense to me, pursuant to the 2nd amendment. Even a CC permit is against the 2nd amendment if you want to get to the heart of this government permission to exercise a "right".

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

This opinion from the Sixth Circuit goes into great detail about why the Fourth Amendment does not permit a Terry stop or detention to check the license of someone openly carrying a handgun absent evidence of some other crime: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/15a0092p-06.pdf

That is only persuasive authority in Texas; but it is pretty persuasive and follows the same line of reasoning that every circuit court examining the issue has reached.