Tx anti-gun confiscation legislation in the works

Anyone know the current status of these bills?

Bill Would Protect Right To Possess Weapons During Emergency

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Austin, Tx
Gun-toting Texans could get some legal protection against having their weapons and ammunition seized by law enforcement officers if a bill that bulleted through the Senate with unanimous approval is signed into law.

Designed to prevent the kind of gun confiscation that happened during the post-Katrina chaos in New Orleans, two identical bills - Senate Bill 112 and House Bill 258 - were written to limit authorities' ability to seize firearms and ammunition during states of emergency.

The authors of the bills, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, and Rep. Frank Corte Jr., R-San Antonio, said they used New Orleans as a case study and determined that the measure would enhance the right of citizens to protect themselves by prohibiting law enforcement officials from going "door to door confiscating weapons at will."

"All we're doing with this legislation is just assuring that law-abiding citizens have the right to protect their person and their property," Carona said. "This bill would not have been conceived of, nor would there be any necessity, were it not for the unfortunate occurrences in New Orleans."

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans police officers confiscated about 800 weapons, said Sabrina Richardson, spokeswoman for the New Orleans Police Department. The National Rifle Association successfully sued to have the weapons returned. As of September, 154 of those weapons had been returned to their owners, Richardson said.

The NRA has since lobbied state legislatures to amend their emergency powers laws. The NRA has sought to prohibit officials from confiscating firearms during declared times of emergency. The NRA has been successful in 11 states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, which passed measures in the past year. Seven other states have similar measures pending in their legislatures.

Corte, a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and a carrier of a concealed handgun license, said the bill also clarifies ambiguities in Texas law pertaining to traveling with a firearm. Interpretations of the law have varied from county to county, causing some district attorneys around the state to adopt their own statutes or, in some cases, ignore the law altogether.

"In essence, the way the law could be interpreted is that those weapons cannot be transported, and they would be confiscated," Corte said. "What we want to do is allow law-abiding citizens to travel with their weapons" and not have them confiscated.

Charley Wilkison, legislative director for the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, said he is concerned that the legislation would dilute local law enforcements' jurisdiction and the use of officers' discretion. He said police need to weigh the public's right to own firearms against the need to keep the peace in times of emergency.

"There's a balance," Wilkison said. "We're watching to make sure this bill doesn't tip that balance."

Carona, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, and Corte, chairman of the House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations, contend that their bills do not compromise police officers' authority.

The Senate unanimously approved Carona's bill, and Corte's measure was voted favorably out of the House Committee on Defense Affairs and State-Federal Relations on March 20. If Corte's bill gets House approval, any differences between it and Carona's would be worked out by a conference committee, and then the bill would be sent to the governor.

"I think the likelihood of passage is strong," Carona said. "Texas has a long history of protecting gun owners' rights."