HARRIS COUNTY COMMISSION TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION CALLING ON CONGRESS & TEXAS LEGISLATURE TO PASS BAN ON PRIVATE FIREARM TRANSFERS

hm1996

Moderator
Staff member
Texas State Rifle Association



Dear TSRA Members, Family and Friends:


HARRIS COUNTY COMMISSION TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION CALLING ON CONGRESS & TEXAS LEGISLATURE TO PASS BAN ON PRIVATE FIREARM TRANSFERS

Dear Harris County Gun Owner:

Precinct Two Commissioner Adrian Garcia has requested that the Harris County Commission discuss and consider a resolution supporting so-called "universal background checks" on all firearms sales this coming Tuesday, October 29.

Gun control advocates have been relentlessly pushing this issue in the wake of mass shootings in Texas and as part of their national radical anti-gun agenda.

This would put the most populous county in Texas on record as supporting a California-style ban on all private firearms sales - including those between family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, hunting buddies and fellow gun club members.

While the resolution would not have the force and effect of law, it would call on the U.S. Congress and your Texas Legislature to adopt legislation that requires these transfers be conducted through a federal firearm licensed dealer, which would include extensive federal paperwork, a criminal records check and payment of an undetermined fee.

This type of law unduly burdens law-abiding citizens, would be ignored by criminals and is unenforceable without gun registration.

Tuesday's Commissioners Court meeting is open to the public and begins at 10:00am in the Commissioners Courtroom, located at 1001 Preston Street, Suite 934 in Houston. It is critical that you turn out for this meeting and voice your opposition to this ineffective, intrusive and unenforceable proposal.

If you wish to speak at the meeting, you must complete the online appearance request form found at:
https://appearancerequest.harriscountytx.gov/ and note in the subject matter line: Resolution on Universal Background Checks on ALL Firearms Sales.

If you cannot attend Tuesday's meeting, please contact Harris County Commissioners and tell them you OPPOSE this resolution. Contact information for commissioners can be found here (be sure to include the County Judge in your emails and phone calls): https://www.harriscountytx.gov/County-Judge-and-Commissioners/Harris-County-Elected-Officials

For information on why you need to oppose a ban on all private firearm transfers, please read the reprinted article below by NRA-ILA State Director Tara Mica:

WHY YOU SHOULD OPPOSE A BAN ON PRIVATE FIREARMS TRASNFERS (AKA UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS)

Imagine being forced to pay fees as high as $50-$100, complete extensive federal paperwork, and obtain government approval before selling or loaning your personally-owned firearms to immediate or extended family members, longtime friends, neighbors and co-workers, or fellow hunters, competitive shooters and gun club members.

That's what so-called "universal background check" laws do. They turn traditional innocent conduct into a criminal offense. They target law-abiding gun owners and not criminals who, by their very definition, will violate new or expanded background check laws.

In their worst form, these laws mandate background checks on EVERY transfer, sale, purchase, trade, gift, rental, and loan of a firearm between any and all individuals. All such transactions would need to be conducted through a federally licensed firearms dealer because private individuals cannot access the national instant criminal background check system (NICS) system.

It is ALREADY a federal felony to be engaged in the business of buying and selling firearms, for livelihood and profit, without having a federal firearm dealers license.

It is ALREADY a crime for a federally licensed dealer to sell a gun without doing a background check - that's all dealers, everywhere, including at retail stores, gun shows, flea markets or anywhere else.

Further, it is ALREADY a federal felony for any private person to sell, trade, give, lend, rent or transfer a gun to a person you know or should have known is not legally allowed to own, purchase or possess a firearm. State law also provides penalties for similar unlawful conduct.

The penalty for selling a gun to a person who is a felon, mentally ill, mentally incompetent, a domestic abuser, or an alcohol or drug abuser is 10-year federal felony. That's now, today, with no changes to the law.

It is even a federal felony to submit false information on a background check form for the purpose of purchasing a firearm.

According to a September 2018 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, 112,090 people were turned down for a gun purchase in FY 2017 and there were 12 prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys Offices as of June 2018. Why, when criminals are caught in the act of lying on the form to illegally attempt to purchase a firearm, are they not prosecuted? Why, when existing background check laws are not being enforced, are there calls for expanding those laws to cover private firearms transactions?

As Texas politicians wade into this divisive issue, it's instructive to look at other states' experiences with similar laws. California always provides one of the most striking examples of failed gun control policies, including expanded background checks. In fact, a 2018 study by UC Davis determined that California's universal background check law had no impact on gun homicide or suicide rates.
But let's look at a few other states which have adopted so-called "universal background check" laws.
A 2017 study by gun control researchers looked at "universal background check" laws in Colorado and Washington State. They found that the laws had "little measurable effect": there wasn't much difference in the number of background checks that were done after the laws went into effect as compared with the estimated number expected without the law. This was most likely attributable to noncompliance and lack of enforcement. (Washington State did not even have its first charge brought for a violation of that state's law until after it had been in effect for almost two years.)
Gun control advocates claim overwhelming public support for so-called "universal background check" laws. Voters in Maine defeated an Everytown-backed November 2016 ballot initiative to require background checks on private gun sales and transfers in that state, and Nevada voters only approved a similar measure by less than one percent of the vote, despite Michael Bloomberg's national gun control organization spending $20M on that effort. Once gun owners and the public became educated on exactly what such a proposal means and how it will impact them, opposition grows significantly.

So-called "universal background checks" are ineffective, intrusive, and unpopular when explained beyond a sound-bite. But perhaps worst of all, they are UNENFORCEABLE without a firearms registration scheme. A 2013 internal U.S. Department of Justice memo summarizing so-called violence prevention strategies stated that the effectiveness of background checks depends on "requiring gun registration."
This particular gun control agenda item focuses on peaceable citizens, not violent criminals who obtain guns on the black-market to carry out unspeakable crimes already prohibited under federal and state laws. Instead of stopping crime and eliminating criminal conduct, they are creating more criminals - they are targeting you.

That's why NRA members need to oppose and fight these misguided proposals that have nothing whatsoever to do with curbing criminal violence but everything to do with stripping us of our guaranteed civil rights and our freedom.
We need to speak out and defend our rights, let our representatives know how we feel, and get to work supporting pro-Freedom candidates in the upcoming elections.
______________________________________________


If your group needs a speaker, send a request to
legdir@tsra.com



There will be continuous attempts to restrict and reduce our second amendment rights. TSRA is dedicated to protecting our rights.

Mike Cox
Legislative Director
Texas State Rifle Association
NRA state affiliate
100 yrs and growing

Regards,
hm
 
Who says activism doesn't do any good!?
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Texas State Rifle Association


Dear TSRA Members, Family and Friends:


Good Work Harris County Gun Owners, we received feedback that a large number of you signed up to speak against the Universal Background Check resolution or sent emails in opposition.




We have received word that Commissioner Garcia has pulled his resolution from the Oct 29 Commission Agenda.

The following message from county staff has been sent to anyone who signed up to speak on this subject:



Thank you for signing up to speak to Harris County Commissioners Court tomorrow about universal background checks for firearm purchases. I want to make you aware that tomorrow's Agenda does not include any item asking the Court to discuss or take action on universal background checks.



You are welcome to speak to the Court regarding your views on universal background checks for firearms purchases. However, because there is no Agenda item specifically on universal background checks, you will be grouped with the non-Agenda-related speakers, who are called upon at the end of the Court's regular Agenda.



If this information affects whether you will address the Court tomorrow, please let me know.





Peggy Boice, MA, MSSW, LMSW-AP, Constituent Services Coordinator, Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, 1001 Preston St, Suite 911, Houston, TX 77002; Phone: 713-274-7038; peggy.boice@cjo.hctx.net ; CJO: 713-274-7000




Instead, the Commission plans to discuss "ways to reduce gun violence" in the community, but not take a vote on any specific resolution or proposal.




TSRA will monitor this discussion and notify you if any future hearings or action items result from these discussions.

Thank You!


Note: we must never let down our guard.

Regards,
hm
 
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