Need quick entry into Texas Capitol? Just get a gun permit

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/12/us-texas-guns-idUSTRE71B2LC20110212

Security is newly tightened at the Texas Capitol, but plenty of gun-toting visitors can breeze right through.

Concealed handgun license holders walk through a special lane marked "CHL Access" around, and not through, the metal detectors put in place last year after a man fired shots outside the statehouse.

Schoolchildren and tourists, meanwhile, have to walk through metal detectors and put their bags and keys through scanners. One of the busiest times is now, when the legislature, which meets biennially, is convened.

Richard Robertson, a concealed handgun license holder who visited the Capitol on Saturday, is glad guns are allowed in the statehouse.

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idiots

yup

[armueller2001]

1. Has it caused a problem?

nope

Those who go through the permit process to obtain concealed handgun licenses (CHLs) are many times less likely to commit a crime than the general population. But I'm sure you already knew that.

[S_B_Jackson]

2. Since many members of the state legislators as well as their assistants have CHLs...

it seems to make perfect sense. Those with valid CHLs are not prone to commit crime (state data indicates 7.5 times less likely than the general population of the state), and it's not as if Capitol security is then unaware of their presence......

It seems that your assessment is strictly based upon a fear of the idea that others may be armed. Do you similarly quaver at the idea of an armed police officer?

[Kolesar]

3. "Have to keep a gun because the government won't be there to protect you"

:irony:

[armueller2001]

4. You do realize that

police have no legal duty to protect you right? Affirmed by the supreme court. Most of the time, the main function of the police is to act as historians and clean up after the fact.

[Kolesar]

5. Whoooosh

And over the horizon

[elias49]

8. I guess it's best to have a couple of guns during 'clean up'

Bwahahaha.

[east texas lib]

6. Lots of opinions on DU...

Yours is one of them. Like mine. Unrec for group smear gambit.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jpak]

9. I can travel anywhere in the US and post anything I want within DU rules

Don't like that

tough

"Sovereign State" = koo koo kookiness

yup

:rofl:

[sharesunited]

10. Ah yes. Texas. Home of the Guns Galore store, where Nidal Hasan bought his.

[jpak]

12. ((((sshhhhh))))

((((that's something they want us to forget))))

yup

[S_B_Jackson]

15. What's to forget?

A member of the US military, not adjudicated as a felon or mentally defective/impaired, purchased a firearm. The store owner performed the required background checks, had no idea of the illegal actions under consideration by Maj. Nidal.

So you don't approve of the name of the gun store? What names would you find more to your liking? And did the name have anything to do whatsoever with the crimes that Maj. Nidal committed? I think not........

[jpak]

16. You forget the particluars regarding Maj. Hasan's behavior and his superior's (in)actions

He should never had been allowed to buy that gun

nope

[sharesunited]

19. Now now. We can't go and interfere with so-called constitutional rights can we?

Just joking. There's no such right.

[S_B_Jackson]

21. Really?

So the Second Amendment to the constitution which protects the right of US citizens to keep and bear (and this also must mean purchase/acquire) firearms does not exist?

Must be an interesting fantasy world you live in, Shares.......

[sharesunited]

22. That is an anarchronism. It was offered up as a compromise to skeptics of a federal government.

And was rendered moot by the American Civil War.

Listen, Scalia and Thomas are mental midgets. Follow them at your own peril of shrinking your brain.

[S_B_Jackson]

23. No, it is The Law of the Land....

And those skeptics of a federal government had every reason to look askance at the ability of the government to abuse it's powers.
Failure to adopt those measures would have guaranteed that the whole of the Constitution would not have been ratified by the requisite number of states and the British would have swallowed up one-by-one the whole of their former colonies once again.

[sharesunited]

24. You've bought the gun lie hook line and sinker.

The general availability of guns and ammo doesn't make you free my friend.

They threaten your health and safety.

[S_B_Jackson]

25. Familial experience indicates that the lie you perceive does not exist....

other than perhaps in your own mind. Everyone in my family going back at least 4 generations has owned firearms, and none has ever experienced any difficulty whatsoever. Your vehicle represents a greater danger to the general populace than any of my firearms.

[sharesunited]

26. Holy crap?! Your American family has bought into the gun toting American way?

OK if that is your experience so far.

tick tick tick

Someone is bound to receive lead in their ass. I'll stay tuned for further news.

[S_B_Jackson]

27. Firearms are useful tools....

for personal defense against predators (of both the 2-footed and 4-footed variety), for hunting game for the table, and for entertainment/relaxation. That's four generations with whom I have had the opportunity to speak....everything I've been able to find out about the preceeding generations indicates that they owned firearms as well at least as far back as the Revolutionary War (Dad's side) and 1820s Texas (mom's side)

That "tick tick tick" is a load of manure...manufactured by those with an axe to grind manipulating their data.

If someone is harmed, it won't have been the firearm that is at fault...it will have been the result of a misuse of the firearm, or someone ignoring safe handling rules.

[S_B_Jackson]

20. I agree, the US Army's collapse to the demands of political correctness

prevented them from doing as they should have. How is that the gun store's fault?

[lawodevolution]

30. He did it in a gun free zone so I suggest a No gun free zones act of 2011 to solve this

Problem.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

11. It's actually a pretty good way for security to know *who* has a concealed gun.

It's kind of exclaiming "hey, I got a gun".
I wonder if security keeps an eye on people it knows have guns (people who use the "I-have-a-gun Entrance")?

[Kolesar]

13. Texas legislators used to punch each other while in session back in the seventies

1970s, not 1870s

It's in here: http://www.ontheissues.org/Shrub.htm

[jpak]

14. When I lived there, they handed out $10,000 checks - bribery is a safer practice though

:wow:

[ManiacJoe]

17. Makes sense if you think about it.

Assuming that the person is carrying a concealed weapon, he is going to set off the metal detector if he were to go through it. What would be the point of it since you are going to let him go in any way?

Since the carrier is showing his permit/license, you know he has gone through a state background check, which is not a requirement for the non-carriers.

Now, if your complaint is that people are allowed to concealed carry in the capitol, that is a different conversation....

[Hangingon]

18. Holders of TX CHLs have passed background investigations.

So it is reasonable to alllow them expedited access.

Yup

Saves time for students too.

Yup

[YllwFvr]

28. I walk around the metal detector in courthouses

to check in. Sometimes they have me walk through it after I sign in, sometimes not.
Not just in Texas!

[lawodevolution]

29. "idiots"

More bigotry

[jpak]

31. My opinion

yup

[Straw Man]

32. Opinions: everybody's got 'em.

Idiots too.

Yup yup.