By now you know that Rep. Jonathan Stickland's Constitutional Carry Act of 2017, HB375, has been making waves in the media and across Texas. Filed back in November, the bill has now been sent to the Homeland Security & Public Safety (HS&PS) Committee for consideration. In addition to this, HB375 has also added 1 additional author and 13 coauthors.
Last session, the Constitutional Carry bill died in Committee and was never given a hearing. This session, Rep. Phil King (R-61) has assured Rep. Stickland that HB375 will get a hearing. This is a huge step up from last session. This is because of our Lone Star Gunners, like you, have called enough to make the difference. In fact, during their first meeting, Rep. King said, "We had so many calls in one day that it shut down the entire phone system so the IT system had to come in and reset the phones." Mark this as Phase 1 complete.
Now we begin Phase 2. We need to keep calling daily, however, our message is different. It is imperative that we do two things:
- Call the Reps on the HS&PS Committee who have not yet coauthored HB375 and insist that they do.
- Call the Reps on the HS&PS Committee who have coauthored HB375 and thank them.
Both of these steps are equally important. Shutting down their phone systems to thank them for coauthoring a bill will have a huge impact, and will help them decide how hard to fight for it. Here are the Republicans on the HS&PS Committee, their phone numbers, and if they have coauthored HB375:
| Rep | District | Coauthor | Office Number |
| Matt Schaefer | 6 | Yes | 512-463-0584 |
| John Wray | 10 | No | 512-463-0516 |
| Will Metcalf | 16 | Yes | 512-463-0726 |
| Justin Holland | 33 | No | 512-463-0484 |
| DeWayne Burns | 58 | No | 512-463-0538 |
| Phil King | 61 | No | 512-463-0738 |
The HS&PS Committee consists of nine members, six of which are the aforementioned Republicans. If five of them vote in favor of HB375, that will move it out of Committee for Calendars to schedule for a vote. Here is the goal for Phase 2: Have these six Republicans' phones ringing off the hook in support for HB375, thanking the "Yes's," and insisting the "No's" change to "Yes's."
Once HB375 is scheduled for a hearing, we need as many of our Lone Star Gunners as we can get to show up and testify. If their phones are shutting down daily and we have a line of people out the door to testify in favor of HB375, this group of Republicans will have a difficult time tabling this bill to die.
This is our Call to Action for all of our Lone Star Gunners! Continue to call these gentlemen as often as you can. Let's make their phone systems shut down each and every day. Share this post with everyone on social media. Have your friends do the same. Together we can show Lt. Gov. Patrick that he was wrong back in January! The votes are there! The support is there! And we demand our 2nd Amendment rights restored in full!
11 Responses