An open letter to the Mayor and Council of Grey Forest, Texas - The exceptional little city I love.
Guns and alcohol are two things that seem to solicit an inordinate amount of uninformed opinions. To complicate the issues, even when discussed as separate concerns, those ignorant opinions are often stated as facts of law by everybody from politicians to police chiefs. On the firearms side, overreaction seems to be the only reaction. Just yesterday, San Antonio dispatched three police cars, two fire trucks, two ambulances, and a S.W.A.T. team to a trailer park where someone reported finding a few dozen rusty rifle cartridges.
I won't waste any pixels on the alcohol component of the controversy.
In recognition of the considerable amount I personally don't know about both of these matters, I won't pretend to contributed to the local debate about it; however, in recognition of the little I do know about human nature, I want to suggest we adopt the model established by Texas for our State parks wherein currently, the jug is plugged for everybody, and a duly licensed handgun owner may elect to hide a heater in his pocket, or strut about with his pistols wagging in the breeze for all to see.
The park regulations are available on-line at http://tpwd.texas.gov/spdest/parkinfo/rules_and_regulations/
Pertinent sections of those regulations are these:
All of the code-chapter-subchapter legalese in point d3 is a convoluted reference to the laws governing the rights of handgun license holders, concealed or otherwise, and without regard to rifles, shotguns, other instruments of deadly force, nor to the rights or lack thereof for an unlicensed person.
So legally, I can't drink or sell hard cider in a state park, but I can carry my engraved .357 magnum Colt Python around on my hip, or stuffed in my boot, because I have a handgun (formerly 'concealed' handgun) license. If you don't have one of those, you can't legally carry around a handgun at all, but you (or I) could carry around a shotgun, or semi-automatic rifle---concealed or not.
But practically, I know that if I go toting around my scary looking black Bushmaster AR-15, at the very least, ranger Rick is going to want to have a discussion about it. Since TP&W rangers have more confiscatory authority than our Sheriffs, that's not a discussion I want to have. On the other hand, as a snakebite survivor, I like to carry a .38 snubby loaded with rat shot for the next diamondback I run across. Even then, I carry it covered up because I don't want to talk to Rick about that either.
For full disclosure, I'm probably going to keep calling it "the Playground Club" because I was one of the many naysayers opposed to putting more property into the public domain. It may take me a while to start calling it the Peoples Community Board of Grey Forest Facilties, or whatever acronymable thing we finally get. Who knows, maybe I'll be a better "citizen" than I was a "member."
Anyway, now that the deed is done, Citizen Salad would like to go along with the rules and regulations of the State of Texas noted herein. These were produced by real-world experience and adapted over time to meet the needs of Texans. I don't think our local constabulary need waste any of its valuable time re-inventing this particular set of wheels.
Oh, and while I'm full disclosuring, I wouldn't shoot a rattlesnake for fear; I'd shoot it for revenge.
Yours,
Oleander Salad
Resident
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| Double Shot Liquor & Guns, Schulenberg, TX. |
I won't waste any pixels on the alcohol component of the controversy.
In recognition of the considerable amount I personally don't know about both of these matters, I won't pretend to contributed to the local debate about it; however, in recognition of the little I do know about human nature, I want to suggest we adopt the model established by Texas for our State parks wherein currently, the jug is plugged for everybody, and a duly licensed handgun owner may elect to hide a heater in his pocket, or strut about with his pistols wagging in the breeze for all to see.
The park regulations are available on-line at http://tpwd.texas.gov/spdest/parkinfo/rules_and_regulations/
Pertinent sections of those regulations are these:
59.134(b) Alcoholic beverages.
It is an offense for any person to:
- consume or display an alcoholic beverage in a public place; or
- sell alcoholic beverages within a state park.
59.134(d) Arms and Firearms.
It is an offense for any person to display or discharge an arm or firearm in a state park, unless:
- the person is participating in a public hunting activity within the state park that has been authorized by written order of the director so long as the person is in compliance with the applicable public hunting rules and regulations
- the person is fishing by means of lawful archery equipment or is participating in an authorized, supervised recreational or educational activity
- the person is licensed to possess and carry a handgun under Government Code, Chapter 411, Subchapter H, and is in possession of and/or carrying the handgun in compliance with applicable law, including, but not limited to, applicable regulations adopted pursuant to Government Code, Chapter 411, Subchapter H
All of the code-chapter-subchapter legalese in point d3 is a convoluted reference to the laws governing the rights of handgun license holders, concealed or otherwise, and without regard to rifles, shotguns, other instruments of deadly force, nor to the rights or lack thereof for an unlicensed person.
So legally, I can't drink or sell hard cider in a state park, but I can carry my engraved .357 magnum Colt Python around on my hip, or stuffed in my boot, because I have a handgun (formerly 'concealed' handgun) license. If you don't have one of those, you can't legally carry around a handgun at all, but you (or I) could carry around a shotgun, or semi-automatic rifle---concealed or not.
But practically, I know that if I go toting around my scary looking black Bushmaster AR-15, at the very least, ranger Rick is going to want to have a discussion about it. Since TP&W rangers have more confiscatory authority than our Sheriffs, that's not a discussion I want to have. On the other hand, as a snakebite survivor, I like to carry a .38 snubby loaded with rat shot for the next diamondback I run across. Even then, I carry it covered up because I don't want to talk to Rick about that either.
For full disclosure, I'm probably going to keep calling it "the Playground Club" because I was one of the many naysayers opposed to putting more property into the public domain. It may take me a while to start calling it the Peoples Community Board of Grey Forest Facilties, or whatever acronymable thing we finally get. Who knows, maybe I'll be a better "citizen" than I was a "member."
Anyway, now that the deed is done, Citizen Salad would like to go along with the rules and regulations of the State of Texas noted herein. These were produced by real-world experience and adapted over time to meet the needs of Texans. I don't think our local constabulary need waste any of its valuable time re-inventing this particular set of wheels.
Oh, and while I'm full disclosuring, I wouldn't shoot a rattlesnake for fear; I'd shoot it for revenge.
Yours,
Oleander Salad
Resident
