Texas Campus Carry Bill Scheduled for Tomorrow and Holder Stiffs Smith

From Jack Burch, via email:

Just an update on campus carry in Texas. Last Tuesday Senate Bill 354 was heard in the Criminal Justice committee with public comment. After 4.5 hours of public comment the committee left it pending. I called the committee clerk this morning to find out the status of this bill as the committee is scheduled to meet again today. She told me that the bill was not currently scheduled for a vote but felt that it would probably be voted on by the committee on the floor of the Senate by the committee members instead of in the committee chambers. A call to the author of the bill, Senator Wentworth, was fruitless as well as they said they knew nothing. The bill has the support of at least 5 of the 8 committee members at this time so passage is likely. As it progresses I will keep you informed. In the house the bill has been passed out of committee and is currently waiting to go to the floor for a vote by the entire house. I suspect it will wait for the Senate to move forward before it goes to the house floor.

As an update, he just sent me this:

SB354 Texas Campus carry is scheduled for a vote in the Criminal Justice committee tomorrow. No question that it will pass and be heard on the Senate floor. Rumor control has it that one senator will offer a floor amendment to change the bill to require private institutions to allow CHL carry. This senator is against the bill and is trying to bring problems to it on the floor. In any event carry in college buildings looks like a good bet.

Also:

On another note, I just got off the phone with Cong. Lamar Smith's office to find out what he is doing as the chair of the Judiciary Committee on Fast & Furious. As you might remember Mr. Smith sent a letter to Eric Holder demanding answers and gave him a deadline of 18 March to answer. To date I have not seen any answers published. To no surprise I got "We are not aware of any reply by Mr. Holder". I contacted our local rep from his office and she stated that she would call and find out what she could. Guess I'm a dumb redneck but it looks like they will not answer until Holder et al are brought in front of a committee and put under oath. Wonder how long it will take to get them there. Adding pressure where possible.