Texas Action Alert: Help Nullify Federal Gun Control

Representative Matt Krause’s bill, House Bill 928 is Texas’s Second Amendment Preservation Act.  Last week, it passed the full House with an amazing vote of 102-31.   It now moves to the state Senate, where it will have its first committee hearing today, 05-13-13.

HB928 is currently in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs & Homeland Security, where committee chair, Senator Estes, is the Senate bill sponsor for the legislation.

A public hearing is scheduled for May 13th at 1:30pm in hearing room E1.012  This bill is in the final stages for passage. The Tenth Amendment Center needs your help to keep moving HB928 forward.

ACTION ITEMS for Texas HB928

1.  Contact the Chair of the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs & Homeland Security.  Senator Estes has agreed to be the sponsor in the Senate. Call him and thank him for sponsoring.  Politely ask him to move the bill forward quickly so it can get to the Governor’s desk.

Senator Estes  (512) 463-0130

2.  Contact all the rest of the members of the Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs & Homeland Security.  Respectfully urge each of them to vote YES on HB928 to move this bill forward in the Senate.

Senator Uresti (512) 463-0119
Senator Heger (512) 463-0118
Senator Hinojosa  (512) 463-0120
Senator Schwertner (512) 463-0105

3. Attend the Hearing. Show your support for HB928 by attending the public hearing.

ADDITIONAL BILL INFORMATION

If passed into law, HB928 would require that the state refuse to enforce almost all federal gun control measures enacted at anytime – past, present or future.    It reads, in part:

An agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state, and a law enforcement officer or other person employed by an agency of this state or a political subdivision of this state, may not contract with or in any other manner provide assistance to a federal agency or official with respect to the enforcement of a federal statute, order, rule, or regulation purporting to regulate a firearm, a firearm accessory, or firearm ammunition if the statute, order, rule, or regulation imposes a prohibition, restriction, or other regulation, such as a capacity or size limitation or a registration requirement, that does not exist under the laws of this state.

This would make a HUGE dent in any new federal effort to further restrict the right to keep and bear arms in Texas. As Judge Andrew Napolitano has said recently, such widespread noncompliance can make a federal law “nearly impossible to enforce” (video here). Quite simply, the federal government absolutely cannot enforce gun control in Texas without the help of Texas.

Surprisingly, an amendment was added in committee that actually made the bill stronger.  It now includes a penalty for any local government which refuses to follow the proposed law.  This includes a loss of state grant funding and the ability of individual Texans to file a complaint with the Attorney General against the local government violating their rights.

Get active on Facebook.   Follow the Texas Tenth Amendment Center and join the 2nd Amendment group for Texas:

http://www.facebook.com/TexasTenthAmendmentCenter
http://www.facebook.com/groups/2ndAmendmentTexas/