Texas Legislature Online – 84(R) History for HB 195.
This bill seeks to not only allow open carry but, seeks to remove the Concealed Handgun License requirement for carrying a handgun all together. Contact your state representative if you want this bill to survive and pass the Texas Legislature.
-GM
As gun sales soared in 2013–with the number of background checks for gun sales breaking records–the FBI reports that violent crime fell sharply below 2012 figures, and property crime rates fell sharply too.
via FBI Report Confirms Crime Fell While Gun Purchases Soared in 2013.
An inconvenient truth for anti-gunners if there ever was one.
-GM
Gallup, which has been surveying the politically volatile question for a generation, announced this morning a new poll revealing that nearly two-out-of-three Americans (63%) now say having a firearm there makes a home safer.
That’s nearly twice the number who said that just before 9/11.
via Americans now agree: Guns make homes safer by Andrew Malcolm – Investors.com.
I’m sure the article quoted above will elicit some hate from the left but, Investors Business Daily isn’t exactly a bastion of conservatism. Lefties with no job might disagree but, the paper is aligned with Yahoo and ABC News, providing both with business and investment industry specific news. Hard to imagine they would spin anything in favor of guns but, here it is.
More specifically, the poll indicates that since August of 2000, the percentage of respondents who think having a gun in the home make their home safer has nearly doubled from 35% to 63% while the number arguing that guns in the home made it more dangerous fell from 51% to 30% over the same time period.
While Gallup and other polls may say gun ownership is on the decline, it seems a majority hold an opinion that stands in conflict with such polls. Given that people like Andrew Cuomo, Michael Bloomberg, Diane Feinstein and others have openly stated they would confiscate all guns from civilian ownership given the chance, it seems more likely that folks just aren’t necessarily willing to admit to owning guns. At the end of the day, there is research available to support just about any point of view and when it comes to politics, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.
-GM
Lawfully armed citizens have much of their identity invested in being the good guy, and tend to assume that society and the courts will recognize their assailants as the bad guys. But it doesn’t always work out that way.
via 5 Self-Defense Cases Where The Attacker's Past Meant Zero.
Say what you will about Ayoob, there’s some hard truth to the cases mentioned here. And if you talk to the folks at Texas Law Shield, these cases happen more often than many people realize. I don’t share this to scare anyone so much as it is an attempt to avoid romanticizing what we each potentially face when we decide to go armed.
Even when you do everything “right,” the law is NOT always perfect or clear cut. Cases like those mentioned here are part of the reason we remind folks that what they post online, even on our page, is discoverable and may be used against you. Even if that never happens, the facts of the incident itself may still be used against you and evidence that might help you could be excluded by a judge/prosecutor who has decided they don’t like you, the fact you shot someone, let alone, the fact you own a gun. But all of that beats the alternative of being unarmed and at the mercy of those who might do you or your family harm.
I realize a lot of folks don’t do FB but, this one was worth showing. Or at least attempting to show it. I haven’t found this video at ActiveSelfProtection.com yet so in the meantime, I’m hosting it here on GOTR.
-GM
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