Today, the Speaker dealt a significant blow to two important conservative gun bills when he referred them to a committee chaired by a Democrat.
One of them, a campus carry bill, could have easily been sent to the Republican-chaired Higher Ed Committee. This bill, HB 706, was co-authored by Reps. Capriglione, Leach, Klick, and Laubenberg.
Instead, it was referred along with Rep. Lavender’s HB 700 – a bill to legalize open carry in Texas – to the House Committee on Security and Public Safety, chaired by El Paso Democrat Joe Pickett.
Rep. Pickett was previously the Chairman of the Transportation Committee, and a Republican was the Chairman of the Committee on Security and Public Safety. This session is a high-impact time to switch to Democrat Chairmanship of this Committee, given President Obama”s prioritization of gun control nationally.
Pickett will now choose to take up the bills or not. Considering Pickett’s party is more aggressively anti-gun than ever, these bills may have been given a death sentence.