TX House Committee to Hear Pro- & Anti-Gun Bills THURSDAY

[Charlie T Waite]

Dear Texas NRA Member:

On Thursday, March 18, the Texas House Committee on Homeland Security & Public Safety will hold a hearing at the Texas Capitol on the following NRA-opposed, and NRA-supported, bills.  The HSPS committee will meet starting at 9:00am, in Room E2.030 of the Texas Capitol.  You do not need a COVID test to enter the Capitol or to attend the hearing, but you may be asked to wear a mask (protocols may change at any time). 

Please make plans to:

1. Attend this committee hearing and voice your position on these measures.  You must enter the Capitol through the North Entrance (facing UT Campus).  Parking is available at the Capitol Visitors Center Parking garage; for more information on the facility click here.
2. If you cannot attend the hearing, please submit written comments (up to 3,000 characters) to be made part of the public record on each bill, at the link provided here.  You can submit written comments up until the time the committee adjourns on Thursday.
3. Contact committee members’ offices by phone and email to let them know you support or oppose these bills. (Do not contact the committee clerk.)  Click here for contact info.

OPPOSE:  House Bill 52, by Rep. Ron Reynolds (R-Houston), requires a background check on all firearm sales at gun shows.  Gun shows are not a source of crime guns because these events typically have a noticeable law enforcement presence at them.  The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2019, that less than 1% of criminals obtained firearms from gun shows.  This measure is nothing more than a slimmed-down state version of the federal ban on all private gun transfers currently being rammed through Congress by Pelosi and the Biden Administration.  

SUPPORT:  House Bill 1407, by Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler), allows a LTC holder to have a handgun in his or her vehicle that is visible and in a holster but not on the person – an important clarification, and an extension of legal, safe, and practical carry options in one’s car or truck.  

SUPPORT:  House Bill 1856, by Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mount Pleasant), protects the ability of hotel guests to lawfully possess firearms and ammunition in their rooms, and to transport them directly en route between their vehicles and their rooms.  Hotels frequently fail to include information on their websites, or in reservation notices, to inform guests about restrictive firearms policies. This forces gun owners, upon arrival, to consider leaving their firearms in their cars or trucks and make them susceptible to theft, in order to comply with policies they knew nothing of in advance.     

For those persons who will be testifying, information for in-person witness registration, can be found here:

A live video broadcast of this hearing will be available here.

Instructions related to public access to the meeting location, and health and safety protocols for attending this meeting, are available here.