Texas Legislature Ajourned.

The Texas Legislature adjourned May 31st; some Higher Ed bills were passed, which I have no comment on yet. One TSRA-backed bill was passed, allowing Texans to purchase firearms in non-adjacent states. The more substantial bills (parking lot firearms storage and campus personal protection act) did not come up for a vote this session; They will have to be revived next session. Damn. I really had a good feeling about those bills at the start of the session. It also means I still have to come and go to work disarmed, while armed criminals roam free. What's a piss-ant weapons charge to a thug willing to commit armed robbery and/or murder; the only ones who obey the law are the law abiding like yours truly. That's the perverse nature of nearly all so-called "gun control" laws.

When I worked for my previous employer, the parking lot thing was a non-issue since my company did not own/control the parking complex, merely leased space for its employees to use. The company had no right to inspect my car or control what I carried in it. After car-carry became legal in Texas, I started keeping a .38 revolver in the glove box, and a semiauto rifle in the trunk. Our campus police similarly have stated they do not care if we keep firearms locked in our vehicles, but they have to enforce the law against concealed carry in university buildings.

I don't know what kind of legislative horse trading took place this session behind closed doors, but maybe in order to pass the other Higher Ed bills this session, the Campus Personal Protection Act was allowed to die quietly this session, to ensure bipartisan cooperation on the other bills. It's a disappointment, to be sure, but that's just how the legislative process works, and like they say in football, there's always next season, or in this case, legislative session. I'm afraid more idealistic goals like "open carry" will have to wait until we maximize the reach of Concealed Carry first, and pass the "Parking Lot Firearm Storage" bill similar to legislation recently enacted by the Oklahoma Legislature and upheld by the courts in Oklahoma. It's funny to see conservatives squirm and bicker over this last one, since to some property rights are so sacrosanct they trump even individual self-defense rights. Since I don't own any property, don't plan to own property (except if I inherit my parent's house in the suburban hinterland of Houston someday, which I fully expect to have to sell as quickly as possible--I sure don't want to live there or have to pay property taxes on it for very long), I'm sometimes rather contemptuous of property rights arguments, and I think personal self-defense rights are sacrosanct and trump ANY one else's property rights considerations. Or you can take the tac that one's own body is the ultimate form of property right, which is a nice bone to throw to the other side in this capitalistic, nominally democratic Republic we inhabit. Uses their argument and logic against them, as it were.

So as the cliche has it, it's literally one step forward, two steps back for self-defense gun rights in Texas this time around.

Oh, and a small piece of good news, via the Texas Freedom Network:

TFN Statement on the Senate’s Rejection of Don McLeroy’s Confirmation as SBOE Chairman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2009

The Texas Senate today failed to confirm Don McLeroy as chairman of the State Board of Education. The 19-11 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for confirmation. Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller is releasing the following statement:

“Watching the state board the last two years has been like watching one train wreck after another. We had hoped that the Legislature would take more action to put this train back on the tracks, but clearly new leadership on the board was a needed first step. The governor should know that parents will be watching closely to see whether he chooses a new chairman who puts the education of their children ahead of personal and political agendas.”

That perks me up some, for now.