Texas House Bill 1863: So crazy that it might just become law?

Okay, folks, brace yourselves for this one.

Rep. Leo Berman (R-Tyler) filed a bill on February 26 of this year that apparently went unnoticed by many Texans until this month, when it was reported favorably by the House Committee on Public Safety on Friday, May 1 with 5 Ayes and not a single Nay. The Committee report was sent to Calendars yesterday, and the bill could possibly be heading for a House vote.

The bill in question is HB 1863. Put simply, if passed and signed into law, this bill would make any firearms, firearm parts, or ammunition made and sold in Texas exempt from all Federal firearms regulation. If you legally own a pistol that was made in Texas, as long as you keep it within Texas, you would not have to undergo an NICS background check or adhere to any Federal laws regarding that particular pistol.

More here: http://armedtexasdemocrats.blogspot.com/2009/05/texas-house-bill-1863-so-crazy-that-it.html

They're clever, these gun nuts.

Kinda like the " threshold law" in some states.

As long as a reciprical agreement exists between the state that you're firing bullets into and
your state allowing the other state to return the favor. ;-)

SCOTUS' consideration of incorporating the 2nd in the 14th that already protects the 1st and 4th Amendments.

and declare independence.

before they are allowed into the United States of America.

Msongs

maybe we could arrange for charter buses to ship them out of more civilized parts of the country

How big a firearms industry does Texas have? A quick look at the googles revealed that we make Derringers (which I thought had gone out with hoop skirts) but not much else. So is this a bag of hot air from Leo Berman? Or is he trying to promote a Lone Star weapons industry? After all, we're going to need firepower to defend ourselves when we regain our independence!

We do have some manufacturers of gun parts down here; LaRue Tactical of Leander comes to mind. They don't sell complete rifles as far as I'm aware, but they do sell various AR parts such as lower receivers, upper receivers, triggers, sights, and optics mounts for Picatinny rail platforms (their best sellers, I believe). You need an NICS background check to purchase an AR lower receiver, but not for the other AR parts.

There are also some gunsmiths that repair guns and even build guns from kits in some cases. All of the reputable gunsmiths are familiar with the state and Federal laws regarding firearm construction and will inform prospective gun owners of any legal issues and how to avoid breaking any laws. We have no "assault weapon" laws in Texas, but there are still some laws governing how many foreign-made parts can be used in guns, what pistol modifications are off-limits to civilians, etc.

As for Texas businesses that manufacture and sell their own guns - I'll have to check on that. None come to mind at the moment, though.