HB 1177, SB 506 - Unlicensed Carry During State of Disaster

[Papa_Tiger]

https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... ill=HB1177
https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Hi ... Bill=SB506

Unlicensed carry for non-prohibited persons allowed while executing mandatory evacuation during a state of disaster or re-entering evacuation zone (one week window).

Unlicensed carry allowed in emergency shelters (even if normally off limits) if authorized by the shelter and not a prohibited person.

[jordanmills]

The part about additional authorization is nonsense. It basically makes the whole thing pointless.

[Papa_Tiger]

Interesting article on the passage of the HB 1177 conference committee report in the Senate.

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190527 ... -in-senate

Looks like there are a few Republicans who are not friends of the Second Amendment.

Though a supporter of the Second Amendment, Huffman labeled the changes dangerous and preposterous.

“I think it’s really, really poor public policy that is not thought out,” Huffman said. “I think you are creating a situation which will be very difficult for law enforcement because, instead of having to deal with rescuing people or helping people, they have to deal with situations about how to confront someone with a gun.”

The same old tripe about making difficult situations for law enforcement. Let's see how this SHOULD go:

Law enforcement officer comes to a MWaG call. Dispatch has determined that the person isn't doing anything suspicious, but a "concerned citizen" has called indicating someone is carrying a firearm in an emergency shelter.

Officer: Hello, I'm officer X with Y police department. We received a call about a person carrying a gun and you match the description of that individual.
Suspect: Hello officer. I'm evacuating from X location due to the state of disaster that was declared. I've already cleared carrying in this shelter with the owner and am following all the rules that they have set out.
Officer: Carry on.

What is so difficult about that?

[DynamicDan]

And 16 states already have Constitutional Carry that is working.

[Liberty]

The evacuations caused by Hurricanes Ike, and Rita. was probably the biggest armed migration in America since the Civil War. Lots of frustrated people. Traffic jams, bad information and no where to go. Very Stress full. All the same evacuees were pretty much well behaved and civility amongst Texans was maintained. I was glad to be armed. Where I was, the normal minutes to respond would have been hours. That is if a phone call could have gone out.