Tomorrow, April 14, the Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to consider House Bill 910, NRA-supported open carry legislation sponsored by state Representative Larry Phillips (R-Sherman). HB 910 removes the requirement that Concealed Handgun Licensees (CHL) keep their handguns concealed and gives them the option of carrying them either wholly or partially visible in a belt or shoulder holster. After having established a 20-year record of law-abiding and responsible behavior, Texas CHLs have earned this personal protection option that 43 states currently allow.
Eighty members of the House have signed onto the bill. Rep. Phillips deserves strong praise for his work to line up this many co-authors for the measure. You can check to see if your State Representative is a co-author of this NRA-backed bill by clicking here.
Call and email your state Representative before Tuesday afternoon and urge him or her to support HB 910 but to oppose any amendments that are not acceptable to the sponsor. As we previously reported, amendments to allow localities to "opt out" of any open carry law and to require that CHLs choosing to carry openly use law enforcement-style retention holsters were rejected by the Texas Senate on the companion bill, Senate Bill 17, sponsored by state Senator Craig Estes.
Contact information for House members can be found here. If you don't know who your state Representative is, you can find out by clicking here.