Opponents Decry House Bill 1911 'No Permit' Gun Carry Measure At Texas Capitol

AUSTIN, TX — People opposed to mulled legislation that would allow Texas residents to carry handguns without a state-issued license—a measure proponents have dubbed "constitutional carry"— gathered inside the Capitol on Monday to air their objections.

Authored by Rep. James White, a Republican from Hillister, House Bill 1911 would circumvent the existing process requiring gun owners to pass a criminal background check and take a course on handling weapons as conditions of securing a license to tote their handguns in public.

The informal name of the bill alludes to 2nd Amendments safeguards of the U.S. Constitution that ardent gun supporters see as unbending and intractable. Such notions are all but sacrosanct in a gun-loving state like Texas, where Republican politicians often encourage unfettered gun ownership as Gov. Greg Abbott did in 2015 when he goaded fellow firearms aficionados to catch up with California in terms of per capita firearms ownership.

“I don’t believe there is such a thing as constitutional carry,” State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, a Democrat from Austin and the first of several speakers, said. “I and many others call it ‘convict carry,' " she added, envisioning the opening of the floodgates the bill, should it become law, would open in terms of enabling questionable gun ownership. "We should not make it easier for criminals to get guns,and that's just common sense."

She warned of the likelihood the measure would pass without opposition being voiced against a bill opponents refer to as the "unlicensed carry" bill.

"There is ample time for this bill to become law," she said, referencing the month left in the current session of the Legislature. She referenced last week's passage of Senate Bill 4 calling for the wholesale deportation of undocumented immigrants and penalties to law enforcement officials seen as non-compliant in banishing them as an example of the types of hard-line legislation now easily passed.

"If we learned anything last week, it's that the House is not the gatekeeper we thought to protect us from bad bills," Hinojosa said.

Also mong those present in the room voicing opposition to HB 1911 were representatives from the League of Women Voters, the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the Children’s Defense Fund and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Also present were State Rep. Poncho Nevárez of Eagle Pass and Joan Neuberger, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin. Some three dozen members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America were also present along with members of Texas Gun Sense.

Raul Camacho, a licensed peace officer and certified firearm instructor, said he espouses guns for everyone, he said. However, his more nuanced approach would require the safety training that HB 1911 seeks to thwart as a requirement.

"If you're going to exercise your 2nd Amendment, do it right," Camacho said. "The 2nd Amendment has been misinterpreted."

Using an orange plastic prop gun, he displayed how many gun owners hold their gun at the firing range with their finger on the trigger while simply handling a firearm. He pivoted the gun downward to illustrate another mishandled bit of gun handling, a move not unlike the carrying of scissors with the pointy side down.

"You guys don't get to see what I see," he told the gathering crammed into a small speaker's room on the second floor just of the Capitol rotunda. "This is why gun training is so important. I want everyone to carry guns but you need training; you need to be educated."

The next speaker, Rev. John Elford of the University United Methodist Church, gently objected to Camacho's "guns for all" scenario, said he also laments unflagging support from fellow members of the religious community. "Here, you have a faith leader deeply troubled by gun violence," he said. He urged like-minded individuals to continue to voice their opposition to HB 1911 even if the challenge seems insurmountable: "I know it feels at times we are bailing out the ocean with a teaspoon," he said.

Ana Lopez, a University of Texas at Austin student and vice president of Student Against Campus Carry, gave an eloquent speech detailing her opposition to the gun measure being considered.

"While 'campus carry' came as a shock to many of us, we chalked it up as, well, this is Texas," she said, referring to a measure passed last summer that allows people to wander through college campuses with concealed handguns—another measure championed by Abbot along with its companion, 'open carry' allowing motion of movement while toting long guns and holstered guns (although virtually every retailer has opted out of the law, restricting such displays).

"This is just about as bad as it gets," Lopez said of HB 1911. "This is one of the days I'm slightly embarrassed to call myself a Texan."

Lopez called the gun measure being considered—one deemed extreme even by the standards of gun-loving Texas—as one guided by "...higher-ups who hide behind some semblance of toxic masculinity and fear tactics. While this seems as though this is just another defeat in the Texas House, it's up to us to make sure that this bill does not pass any further. The safety and security of all Texans rests in our hands."

But the most moving and powerful presentation of the day came from Calandrian Kemp who lost her son, George Kemp Jr., to gun violence in 2013. She spoke of an athletic prowess he possessed even as a little boy and the attentive father to his own children he had grown up to be. As she spoke, the late young man's father, George Kemp Sr., stood silently by her side holding a photo of his son as the still-grieving father stared stoically ahead as if steeling himself from succumbing to emotion while memories of his fallen son were being invoked.

"I would've preferred never to have been here today," she told the crowd, given the circumstances behind her presence in the room. My

"It's not fair," she said, clutching a poster featuring her son's visage. "My son George was 20 years old and you talk about constitutional right? What about his right to live? It's not fair. I'll never see him get married."

Her take on the gun law being considered: "It is reckless," she stated simply.

As she spoke lovingly of her son—a self-described country boy who wore overalls while driving with country music blaring—several in the audience openly wept.

After the presentation, members of Moms Demand Action proceeded to the offices of the Calendar Committee to further express their opposition to the proposed measure. The bill passed the House committee on April 18 before arriving at the offices of the Calendars Committee members, where a determination will next be made whether or not the bill will get a full vote in the House.

>>> Photos by Tony Cantú