In an unusual display of common sense, the Texas State Capitol building security has put in an express lane for those Texas citizens with Concealed Handgun Licenses.
Yes, Gentle Readers, if you go through the training, and the background check, and the fingerprinting — as well as coughing up the dosh — and you decide to visit your Capitol building in Austin (with your handgun and license in paw) you have an express lane through Security.
If that doesn’t warm the fuzzy little cockroaches of your heart, I don’t know what will.
Do allow me to choose some select quotes:
“It’s perhaps the only public building in the country where pistol-packing average Joes can walk through security undeterred.”
“The general public has to get scanned at the entrances. State officials and gun toting citizenry do not.”
I have no doubt that various types will most certainly get their knickers into a knot over this perfectly logical step, and for those gentle souls I have but one thing to say to reassure your timid little hearts: I-35 goes north; I-10 and I-40 go east and west. Don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
Nothing but love — and God Bless Texas!
LawDog
41 thoughts on “Don’t like it? I-35 goes north.”
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A building that is jam-packed with state officials packing guns, on-duty cops standing guard, off-duty cops there trying to convince the officials to do some actual work (seriously, lots of a night-shift cop's off-duty time is spent in various public buildings getting warrants signed and whatnot), and a bunch of background-checked citizens with guns . . .
Honestly? I would leave mine at home. That's gotta be the safest building on the planet; why bother carrying your own?
Now, if they would just add a federal carry permit law, and tack on a couple things like psyche testing and regular check-ups, maybe make it a yearly renewal, I say do the same for airports. Better than the 1-in-10,000 odds of being on a flight with an air marshal or something.
That is beyond fantastic! Yey Texas! And I must admit that your navigation is dead on! I may have to move! Linked Sir with your permission.
I love Texas… find me another state where drivers on a one lane road will get over on the shoulder to let faster drivers pass. You won't! Texas is da best state EVAH!
Dave, I think that you're fonder of restrictions and "common sense" precautions than I am when it comes to a right.
Hehehe- LOVE it… I gotta get back there…
sweet… just when I start thinking about moving back to AZ they come up with a new reason to stay in TX.
Gonna take a lot of doing to get me out of Alabama, what with grandkids and all.
But Texas sure seems to be trying!
Sarah,
My only belief in restrictions are for restricted areas. I like controlling who is around tge huge tank of explosive jet fuel I am riding in.
Otherwise, sane, sober noncriminals can do whatever they want.
I'm at the other end of 35, don't send 'em here!
Don't tell them to go north on the I-35! Then they'll end up in Minnesota, and those poor folks are just getting a taste of liberty courtesy of Rep. Bachmann.
I moved out of 'the state where nothing is allowed' to the Sovereign State of Arizona because I despaired of MN ever developing common sense. Now, it seems they're making progress. But if you send another bunch of bedwetters up there, those poor folks are doomed.
Nurture the ember of liberty, don't smother it with liberals! ;>
And on the day that it was announced that Austin would host the Formula 1 Grand Prix for the US from 2012.
Fast cars, guns and Texas attitude?? I'm moving to Austin! 😉
Virginia fast tracks permit holders at the general assembly as well. Now if we could only gett eat single lane road – pull over to allow a pass virginia would be perfect.
Now if we could just get them to repeal the No-Carry-in-a-Courthouse portion of the law…
So I can carry legally where the laws are MADE, but not at a courthouse. Oh well, one step at a time.
Doncha know the pointy-headed liberals in Austin are curled in the fetal position right about now? 😉
Semper Fi'
DM
I went through the CHL line in the south entrance of the capitol last Sunday afternoon. We were there for my daughter's Girl Scout meeting.
I entered the CHL line with my CHL card out in front. The trooper then tried to run my CHL to verify that it hadn't been revoked and I didn't have any active warrants. The trooper who I delt with aksed if I was carrying my pistol at the time. I answered in the affimative.
They have a laptop at the counter with a card reader that is supposed to run your number through the DPS software quickly. At the time they tried to run mine, they were having problems with their aircard that I didn't know about. 3 more troopers came over to watch at that point. That made me a little nervous because I still wasn't sure what the delay was. Eventually he told me there was problems with the computer. The sargent had to call it in manually on his cell phone. Once it came back clear they let me proceed around the metal detectors.
It was hard to call it the express lane that day since it took about 5 times as long as it took my wife and kid to go through the traditional security point. It might have been the fast route on a day when the regular line was long and the computer was working.
The DPS troopers were very friendly and apologized for the delay. He mentioned that I was the first person he saw use the CHL line last week. I find that hard to believe but I guess possible.
@ Dave, regarding carrying in the capitol. I wasn't worried about the capitol being a dangerous place. I understand that it's a very secure, safe building. it's the rest of Austin I'm worried about. Being able to carry in the capitol means I don't have to leave my pistol in the car/@home when I choose to visit the building. I can have it with me while walking around downtown.
Hey! Don't suggest I-35, we don't want'em either.
On a similar note, the local town council just passed an ordinance to allow CCW carriers to carry while attending council meetings. The vote was 7:1. This was tried last year on a 5:3 vote and the mayor vetoed it. This year the vote is veto proof.
If you Texans ever get around to fixing that 130 degree in the shade problem, I would immigrate in a heartbeat. My needs are simple. When I pick up a gun that has been lying on an uncovered shooters bench for 15 min, I don't want it to burn my hand and I don't want the gun to freeze to my hand.
I understand drawing a distinction between the capitol and the courthouse. It's at the courthouse that you get otherwise sane folks doing things that are entirely out of character. Don't remember the details, but I do remember a case about 20 years back where a guy in Indiana shot the judge after he lost a custody dispute.
Dog, I have to thank you. You and I don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things (generally political in nature), but unlike most, you give rational reasons and make me think about my positions. Whether I change my mind or not, that's invaluable.
I may have to move to Texas.The land of common sense.
Does the I-35 go SOUTH past the Rio Grande? Send them THERE & Calderon can worry about them himself. :^)
Ulises from CA
I'd like to congratulate Austin for (finally) following Olympia's example.
Of course, we here in Washington AC had shall-issue several decade before Texas did, too…
What everyone else from Minnie-Soda said. Besides, I-35 morphs into Hwy 61 in Duluth and they have MORE than their share of libtards as it is…
ThoreMo
Up here in Virginia, we have the same thing on "lobby day" when hundreds of gun rights supporters lobby their representatives. Show your concealed carry card, go through. Or, even better, open carry and go through FASTER.
Dude! We have had this in Virginia for several years. You just have to travel light (no laptop bags or purses) to take advantage.
Heck, I may just take a trip to the Capitol Building to celebrate!
tweaker
I agree with SteveC; I'm from Seattle, and I can't handle hot weather. If it weren't for that pesky 130 in the shade problem in the summer, I'd emigrate.
Then again, I once designed a personal air conditioning unit Rube Goldberg would be proud to own…now I'm even more tempted…
I LOVE IT!
You know, Dave, I might not object too much, except that they don't let me park on the lawn and go straight in. I have to get from the car to the building somehow, and that may be several blocks of walking depending on the crowd that day.
Another reason to love Texas!
Dave: you used to be able to carry your firearm aboard an aircraft … the stewardess would off to stow a cased rifle in the coat closet.
People didn't become stupider by birth, but rather by the state dwarfing heart and mind. Don't let it dwarf yours.
If terrorists on aircraft is a problem, then teach people to not give in to them … the proper response to a terrorist takeover of an aircraft is passenger killed terrorists.
The proper response by the airline is to profile as hard as El Al does today. The underwear bomber tried nothing on an El Al flight because they parked an armed plainclothes security person next to him, who glared at him with his hand on his gun during the entire flight.
That is awesome!!!!!
Next thing you know, they'll let you guys carry in bars! Or openly! It'll be madness! (Or Indiana. 😉 )
*snicker* I resemble that. Been here for 35 of my 52 years.
Well, it's okay for one of your commentators to knock Minnesota — Minnesotans do it all the time; it's part of our charm — but permit holders here can walk into almost all public buildings undeterred, and unfrisked. (Courthouses being the notable exception.) State law prohibits subordinate governments from tacking on their own rules and, by and large, the subordinate governments comply.
Even for the State Capitol, all that's required is that the permit holder either get permission from the Commissioner of Public Safety or give notice to the commissioner. (Yeah, you can either ask him or tell him; I don't know anybody who doesn't just send a letter.)
I think we've got something better than an express line: we've got doors. Give your notice at some point (I gave mine around 1995; the captain who invited — and I mean invited, not "invited" — me to stop by for a cup of coffee next time I was around said that they'd never gotten a notice letter, but he didn't see a problem. Nice, service-oriented guy; pretty typical, in that, for the Capitol cops), walk through a door, and then don't do something stupid, and you're fine.
Sometimes I wish Oklahoma was more like our neighbor to the south. The legislature recently passed open carry, but the Governor, true to his Democrat nature vetoed it. The legislature tried an override, but 10 Dems who voted for it the first time got faint-hearted and folded on the deal.
I could see the legislature here authorizing something like this though, if for no other reason than to scare off the few remaining Democrats (Oklahoma had a Democrat majority in both houses practically since Statehood, but the proletariat has finally wised up).
Dave, the problem I have, and the problem Sarah and others probably have with your statement concerns the Psych Evals. Define for me the objective definition of "sane" please. Dictators all over the planet love to use "insanity" as an excuse to lock people that disagree with them away on the INSANE notion that disagreeing with them MUST be crazy.
The problem is that there is nothing, and I will repeat, NOTHING, about psychiatry/psychology that is the least bit objective. Everything is subjective and subject to the biases and whims of the person doing the evaluation. This is rife for abuse of power.
There is also the small issue that if you have to apply for PERMISSION then it is not a RIGHT. Frankly, Texas' CHL law is unconstitutional in my view. I should not have to pay a bunch of money and self-identify myself to the government with which we might conceivably have to defend ourselves against in order to get PERMISSION to do something that is a God given right, and guaranteed by the constitution of these United States.
My wife and I went through the North entrance a couple days ago and had an experience similar to Reub's. They asked if I was actually armed, and when I asked why they asked me that, the officer said it would be faster to go through the regular line if I didn't have a gun (no one was in that line at the time). The guy running the computer seemed to have problems getting the card to swipe, and ended up typing in some of our info. Took about a minute all told, which is too long if there are more than two people in line. Hopefully they will get over the nonsense of having to verify the card is current and just accept it at face value, whic is what pretty much every other cop in the state does.
p.s. But overall, if you're gonna have metal detectors and such, this is basically a great strategy — let the good guys who are armed in, and keep the bad guys who are aremd out. Instead of just banning guns altogether like most governments instinctively do.
Don't send them north on I-35- they might get to Minnesota. We don't want them either!
Hey Lawdog, if'n you have time. Could you come over to Tank-net.org and make a post in the Mass Shooting in U.K. thread? I figure you, as a police officer in a small town like Bugscuffle would have some choice comments to note about the general prevalence of crime and how, even though crime is very rare, firearms have a place in the society and culture of small town life.
regards,
Montieth
No, really, for those folks, 10 and 40 only go East, thank you. 😉