Good morning, 

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Brandon Waltens 

Monday, November 23, 2020
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• Earlier this year, delegates to the Republican Party of Texas met (virtually) and selected eight legislative priorities for lawmakers to pass when the state legislature reconvenes in January.
   
• Among them? Passing constitutional carry.
   
• What is constitutional carry? Restoring legal Texas firearms owners’ rights to carry them openly or concealed without a permit, while maintaining the option of a permit for reciprocity purposes.

• A bit of history: constitutional carry was made a legislative priority by the Republican Party of Texas in 2014. In fact, it was the first officially designated legislative priority, and since then the party has formalized the process by creating a list of 5-8 of them every two years during the convention.
   
• Remember the primary elections earlier this year? (yes, those were this year...) Over 85 percent of Republican voters supported a proposition stating Texas should reject restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.
   
• In fact, this is an area where Texas lags behind. Currently more than 30 other states—including Bernie Sanders' Vermont—allow those who legally possess handguns to carry them openly without a permit, and many states also allow concealed carry without a permit.
   

• But despite being a perennial priority of Texas Republicans, the bill has not received much traction in the Texas Legislature in recent sessions. During the most recent legislative session in 2019, the bill was sent by House Speaker Dennis Bonnen to a committee led by Democrat State Rep. Poncho Nevarez (Eagle Pass), where it was not even given a hearing. Bonnen himself even referred to supporters of the legislation as “fringe gun activists.”
   

• In the Texas Senate, the legislation was not even filed.

• That brings us to this upcoming session. Though lawmakers are not scheduled to return to the Capitol until January, pre-filing of potential legislation has already begun. 
   
• Already, State Rep. Drew Springer (whose failure to support constitutional carry in previous sessions has become an issue in his current campaign for the Texas Senate) has filed HB 299 for permitless carry. State Rep. Kyle Biedermann has pledged to file constitutional carry legislation. We should expect to see specific bills in the coming weeks.  
   
• Just a few weeks ago, Texas rejected Democrat efforts to turn Texas blue. Now, with Republicans still holding control of every facet of statewide office in Texas, will they work for the priorities of those that elected them? Or will they thwart conservative reforms?
   
• State lawmakers are scheduled to return to the Capitol on January 12, 2021.

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