By ERIK SCHELZIG

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – It’s been the year of the gun in Tennessee. In a flurry of legislative action, handgun owners won the right to take their weapons onto sports fields and playgrounds and, at least briefly, into bars.
A change in leadership at the state Capitol helped open the doors to the gun-related bills and put Tennessee at the forefront of a largely unnoticed trend: In much of the country, it is getting easier to carry guns.

A nationwide review by The Associated Press found that over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions.

Among other things, legislatures have allowed firearms to be carried in cars, made it illegal to ask job candidates whether they own a gun, and expanded agreements that make permits to carry handguns in one state valid in another.

The trend is attributed in large part to a push by the National Rifle Association. The NRA, which for years has blocked attempts in Washington to tighten firearms laws, has ramped up its efforts at the state level to chip away at gun restrictions.

“This is all a coordinated approach to respect that human, God-given right of self defense by law-abiding Americans,” says Chris W. Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist. “We’ll rest when all 50 states allow and respect the right of law-abiding people to defend themselves from criminal attack.”

Among the recent gun-friendly laws:

- Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Utah have made it illegal for businesses to bar their employees from storing guns in cars parked on company lots.

- Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina and Virginia have made some or all handgun permit information confidential.

- Montana, Arizona and Kansas have allowed handgun permits to be issued to people who have had their felony convictions expunged or their full civil rights restored.

- Tennessee and Montana have passed laws that exempt weapons made and owned in-state from federal restrictions. Tennessee is the home to Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, the maker of a .50-caliber shoulder-fired rifle that the company says can shoot bullets up to five miles and is banned in California.

The AP compiled the data on new laws from groups ranging from the Legal Community Against Violence, which advocates gun control, to the NRA.

Public attitudes toward gun control have shifted strongly over the past 50 years, according to Gallup polling. In 1959, 60 percent of respondents said they favored a ban on handguns except for “police and other authorized persons.” Gallup’s most recent annual crime survey in October found 71 percent opposed such a ban.

The NRA boasts that almost all states grant handgun permits to people with clean criminal and psychological records. In 1987, only 10 states did. Only Wisconsin, Illinois and the District of Columbia now prohibit the practice entirely.

“The NRA has a stranglehold on a lot of state legislatures,” said Kristin Rand, legislative director the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group in Washington. “They basically have convinced lawmakers they can cost them their seats, even though there’s no real evidence to back that up.”

Tennessee’s new laws came after the Republican takeover of the General Assembly this year, but most other states that loosened restrictions didn’t experience major partisan shifts. Most of the states where the new laws were enacted have large rural populations, where support for gun rights tends to cross party lines.

While some states have tightened gun laws during the same period, the list of new restrictive laws is much shorter. In 2009 alone, more than three times as many laws were passed to make it easier on gun owners.

New Jersey’s 2009 law limiting people to one handgun purchase per month is the most notable of the more restrictive laws. Other examples this year include Maryland’s ban on concealed weapons on public transit and Maine’s vote to give public universities and colleges the power to regulate firearms on campus.

The most contentious of Tennessee’s new gun laws was one allowing handguns in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. It took effect in July after lawmakers overrode a veto by the governor. Last month, a Nashville judge struck down the law as unconstitutionally vague, but supporters have vowed to pass it again.

A similar Arizona law that took effect in September allows people with concealed-weapons permits to bring their guns into bars and restaurants that haven’t posted signs banning them.

While Tennessee’s law was in place, many bars chose not to let customers bring guns in. Likewise, more than 70 communities have opted out of allowing guns in parks.

“People go in there and start drinking and then they want to start a fight. What are they going to do if they got a gun in their hand?” said Larry Speck, 69, who works at an auto repair shop in Memphis. “I’ve got a gun permit and I’m not carrying mine in there even if they have a law.”

Chattanooga retiree Ken Hasse, 71, said he worries about the possible consequences of allowing people to carry their guns in places like parks. “It’s going to tempt somebody to use one,” he said.

Supporters of expanding handgun rights argue that people with state-issued permits are far less likely to commit crimes, and that more lawfully armed people cause a reduction in crime. Opponents fear that more guns could lead to more crime.

Academics are divided on the effects of liberalized handgun laws, and determining the impact is complicated by the move in several states to close handgun permit records.

A Violence Policy Center project has mined news reports to find that more than 100 people have been killed by holders of handgun-carry permits since 2007, including nine law enforcement officers. The project originally intended to list all gun crimes by permit holders, but there were too many to keep track of, Rand said.

“They shoot each other over parking spaces, at football games and at family events,” Rand said. “The idea that you’re making any place safer by injecting more guns is just completely contradicted by the facts.”

The flood of legislative victories in Tennessee after many years of frustration now has some gun backers aiming for a whole new level of freedom: No permits at all.

The permit laws “are an extra burden on people to exercise essentially a constitutional right,” said John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association.

—

Associated Press writers Lucas L. Johnson II in Memphis and Bill Poovey in Chattanooga contributed to this report.

By James Gleason
The Lakeland Times

Written by Bob Adelmann

New American

Fort Hood Commander

Soldiers trained in the “art of warfare” are not allowed to carry personal self-defense weapons on base as one of the unhappy results of the long war against guns in our society. 

While many questions about the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, by Major Nidal Hasan remain unanswered, there is one question for which there is a clear and unequivocal answer:  Why didn’t the soldiers return fire? 

Fort Hood is the largest active duty post in the world, covering more than 340 acres outside Killeen, Texas, quartering more than 50,000 troops, and an additional 27,000 family members and civilian support staff. It is the final check point for embarkation to Iran and Afghanistan for the 1st Cavalry Division. Each soldier has had a final medical clearance. Each has been carefully and rigorously trained in the strategies and tactics of modern warfare. 

And so, why, in the face of withering determined fire, did no one use their weapon to return fire and put down the attacker? Why did it take 10 minutes before a civilian police officer was able to neutralize this individual? 

The answer: Because they couldn’t. They were unarmed. 

Fort Hood is, in fact, a “gun free” zone, proclaimed and enforced by regulations adopted in one of the very first acts signed into law by President Clinton in March, 1993. 

Those military regulations are very specific: Army Regulation 190-14 “prohibits the carrying of non-Government owned weapons or ammunition” by RA (Regular Army) personnel. 

And so, just like in the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School attacks, the perpetrator took advantage of the “gun free” zone, knowing that receiving return fire wasn’t likely to occur before he had inflicted heavy casualties upon his victims. 

All of this stems from the flawed (but oft-repeated) assumption that “guns are evil”, that “guns kill people”, and therefore (it follows that) all guns must be confiscated and removed from society — even from those trained to defend our country! 

For instance, here comes Chicago Mayor Daly, responding to the query about whether he thought Islam had anything to do with the Fort Hood massacre: 

“Every day in society people are getting killed, unfortunately. America loves guns, we love guns to a point that we see the devastation on a daily basis.”

And this, from Paul Helmke of The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence:

“America has seen an epidemic of horrific gun violence at churches and synagogues, workplaces, health clubs, high schools, universities, policy stations and now Army bases.  This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified army base, ought to convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places.  Enough is enough!”

Let’s look at some “inconvenient” facts overlooked or ignored by such people and organizations. 

Dr. John R. Lott, Jr., from the University of Maryland, and William M. Landes, from the University of Chicago Law School, in their extensive and highly regarded analysis of the presence or absence of firearms during the commission of “multiple victim public shootings”, said:

“Our results find the only policy factor to have a consistently significant influence on multiple victim public shootings is the passage of concealed handgun laws…We show why [these] laws reduce the number of shootings and have an even greater effect on their severity.”  [Emphasis added.]

None of this is “new” news, of course. The reader is free to access Gun Facts at www.gunfacts.info for a quick reference guide on gun control issues. Some of the myths exposed (with backup source material) include:

•  Concealed carry laws increase crime. (No.)
•  People with concealed weapons permits will commit crimes.  (No.)
•  People do not need concealable weapons. (Yes, they do.)
•  Police are against concealed carrying by citizens. (No, they aren’t.)

Common sense about the matter rarely makes it into the public discussion of the Fort Hood attack, with this exception: On CNN on Monday night (November 9th), anchor John Roberts asked Mrs. Mandy Foster, wife of one of those wounded in the attack, how she felt about her husband being “scheduled for deployment in January” to Afghanistan.  Mrs. Foster responded:

“At least he’s safe there and he can fire back, right?”

On Tuesday, November 20th, Press Secretary Gibbs told reporters that President Obama “asked every agency involved…to investigate why this happened, how this happened and to ensure that they can tell him that it won’t happen again.” 

Until laws against carrying weapons are repealed, and freedom to “bear arms” restored, more such attacks are not only possible, but remain likely “to happen again”. 

It’s just common sense.

By BILL HANNA

Star-Telegram – Fort Worth

Clayton Smith

FORT WORTH — A lawsuit filed by two Tarrant County College students claiming that TCC violated their free speech rights by limiting their ability to stage “empty holster” protests has been set for trial Jan. 12.

TCC asked for a 60-day continuance to prepare for trial, and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Clayton Smith and John Schwertz, did not object.

TCC attorney Angela Robinson said the trial will focus on the merits of the lawsuit. Austin-based ACLU lawyer Lisa Graybill said a settlement appears unlikely.

“Based on the posture taken so far, it looks like a trial will be necessary,” Graybill said.

TCC limited students to designated free speech zones and required students to give advance notice and apply for a permit to protest. The lawsuit says those requirement violate free speech and should be removed from the student handbook.

Last week, a temporary restraining order was granted that allowed the students to wear empty holsters and hand out fliers. Schwertz said the protests, which weren’t allowed in classrooms or hallways, encountered no problems.

“It was a pretty smooth process,” Schwertz said, adding that students staged protests at the Northeast, Southeast and South campuses.

He said more students are interested in joining the group, which is advocating that licensed concealed-handgun owners be allowed to bring their weapons onto college campuses. A bill filed during the last legislative session failed to pass.

But Schwertz said he hopes that the lawsuit will make it easier for student to express their views on TCC campuses.

Based on the posture taken so far, it looks like a trial will be necessary.”

Lisa Graybill,
Austin-based ACLU lawyer

By Maria Cramer and Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

Boston.com

The security guard who fatally shot a patient who was attacking a doctor in a Massachusetts General Hospital psychiatric clinic said today he had done what anyone would have done and he was happy that the doctor was recovering.

“I just did what anyone would have done, ma’am, that’s all,” Paul Langone said in answer to a group of reporters’ questions as he walked to a car outside the family’s home in Reading.

“I’m OK. I just want to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Carciero family,” said Langone, referring to the family of Jay Carciero, the man he shot.

By LEE HIGGINS

The State (South Carolina’s Home Page)

Florence — At the Land of the Sky Gun & Knife Show, people could buy everything from a 12-shot rubber band gun to a custom-built target rifle that can hit a soda can from 600 yards.

There were semi-automatic weapons for sale, too, and pistols galore, as thousands of people packed into the Florence Civic Center for the April show.

Gun shows are popular across South Carolina and throughout the year. Promoter Mike Kent expected the April show to post his second-largest turnout in six years.

And people were buying, Kent said.

Many were stockpiling ammunition, he said – buying it by the case. They feared the new Obama administration would push for higher taxes on it.

“The increase in turnout is directly related to the recent presidential election,” Kent said. “People are afraid Obama is going to ban guns, make them more difficult to obtain or increase taxes on them.”

Don Lipsey, owner of Rubber Band Guns, a Myrtle Beach-based vendor, was selling wooden rubber band guns for $10.95 each.

Lipsey was encouraging children to fire rubber bands at pictures of Osama bin Laden and Sadaam Hussein.

“We get ‘em started right young, with rubber band guns – shoot 12 at a time without reloading,” he said. “And there’s no background checks on these. If (people) just get out of jail, no problem.”

Background checks are big talk at gun shows. Licensed dealers are required by law to perform them. But gun collectors and other individuals are not. Law enforcement says that means anyone, including felons and young teens, can buy a gun there.

In Florence, pistols were hot.

James Cooper, 29, of Dillon County, planned to buy a pistol for the first time. then get a concealed weapons permit to carry the gun with him.

“In this day and age, it’s crazy out there,” he said. “Anything can happen.”

Darren Edwards, 38, of Chesterfield, near the N.C. state line, moved to South Carolina four years ago from Maryland. He, too, was at the show shopping for a pistol.

Edwards enjoys how popular guns are in the state.

“I can walk out my door and shoot my gun and my neighbors don’t think nothing of it,” he said.

If anyone poses a threat to gun rights, it is youths who use them irresponsibly, Edwards said.

“Morals and standards have gone down,” he said. “A lot of kids, parents would rather give them a time out than a hand across the butt.”

While pistols were popular, Jeremy B. Davis was selling an array of components for the semi-automatic AR-15. That included a 100-round circular magazine on sale for $300.

People have been rushing to buy any AR-15 components they can get their hands on, Davis said.

Especially popular were items once banned under the Clinton administration, such as high-capacity magazines, which Davis said hold more than 10 rounds.

Davis said people are fearing a similar ban will return.

On the night Barack Obama was elected president, Davis said, he sold 38,000 magazines from his Web site – more than three times the number sold on a typical night.

Lately, he said, people have been picking up parts as small as screws at his store in Waynesville, N.C., asking if they fit AR-15s, then buying them if the answer is ‘yes.’

“People are terribly afraid their rights are going to be infringed upon like they were under the Clinton administration,” he said.

“People are absolutely terrified,” he said. “A lot of people are in anticipation of a police state, terrorist attack, civil unrest. A lot of people are preparing to draw lines in the sand.”

By Lexie Krell

The Daily

Of The University of Washington

UW senior Stanley Luong has a concealed-pistol permit and carries a handgun.

He has also been robbed on four different occasions.

Luong’s personal experience with robbery and crime in the U-District led him to create the Facebook group “University of Washington Campus Vigilantes,” with the intent to patrol the Ave with other students who had also obtained concealed-pistol permits.

“After something like that happens to you, you get really paranoid … and having a gun helps you move on,” Luong said. “You feel safer … like you’re in control of the situation or have some control if something happens.”

The group had about 15 members join early this month before it was removed by site administrators only 48 hours after its creation due to “a violation of terms.” Even though the group no longer exists, students are continuing to carry concealed weapons in the U-District, citing a need to protect themselves amid what they feel has been an increased level of crime in the U-District during the past years. The UW Police Department (UWPD) has sent notification of 10 assaults and robberies in just the past two months.

“The police will never be there,” Luong said. “It will take them at least, like, three or four minutes before they can get there, and by that time, the robbers are gone. It’s all about taking the law into your own hands and doing the things the police aren’t doing.”

John Vinson, chief of UWPD encourages students to call 911 first in the case of an emergency.

“I would not advocate the student utilizing a weapon without allowing law enforcement to respond to the situation,” Vinson said. “The response time should be relatively quickly; I would not advocate them taking the law into their own hands.”

Some students, however, disagree.

Senior Luis Garcia, a concealed-pistol-permit holder and member of the former Facebook group, said that he contacted authorities after being robbed on Greek Row in August 2008 and waited 20 minutes for an officer to respond.

“I ended up getting the run around over the phone,” Garcia said. “There [seemed] to be a communication issue between the UWPD and the SPD as to whose jurisdiction the Greek system [was] in.”

Garcia said that getting the knowledge to obtain a permit and learning the proper safety procedures associated with the responsibility of concealed-weapon permits would both be benefits of creating a student organization for students who carry concealed weapons.

“As of now, it’s just an idea, but I believe that it has all the necessary components to become a large student organization,” Garcia said. “If they go about it in a legal manner … there’s no reason that anyone should hesitate about getting this permit if they are educated about it.”

When asked about the prohibition of weapons on campus, Luong said he cannot encourage students with permits to carry guns on campus, but he feels that a number of people do.

“I definitely believe that [there are] a lot of people who carry on campus,” Luong said. “People are carrying because … they want to have the responsibility. They like being in control of the situation if something happened.”

Vinson said that the Washington Administrative Code prohibits the possession or use of weapons on campus.

The UW College Republicans held an event calling for concealed carry to be allowed on campus last year. The organization’s president, Justin Bryant, who also holds a concealed pistol permit, said that students with the proper training who carry concealed weapons make the U-District safer.

“Whenever I’m going through high-traffic areas late at night, I carry to protect myself from all the robbers,” Garcia said. “I’ve been jumped twice in the U-District; I think that it’s good for students to be able to protect themselves.”

Reach reporter Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.

By Lucretia Cardenas

The demand for concealed handgun licenses is on the upswing, and a local police department is meeting the need to teach people how to exercise their right responsibly.

Montgomery County is no different than the rest of the state. The state granted 1,892 CHLs to county residents between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008. For the same period from 2008 to 2009, with two months to go, 2,464 have been granted to residents, which is a 30 percent increase.

 The Oak Ridge North Police Department started receiving questions from residents earlier this year about where they could receive CHL classes. In an effort to help them exercise their right, the ORN City Council gave the Police Department permission to begin classes.

Four residents attended the September class, and 10 completed the October class. The next class runs Nov. 12-14 and costs $10. Students are required to provide their own handgun and be familiar with gun safety, maintenance and operation.

Oak Ridge North Police Chief Andy Walters recognizes that offering the course is not common practice among police departments, but to him, it makes perfect sense.

“I have a deep-seated belief that people should exercise their right responsibly, and who better to help them do it than the police department?” Walters said.

The demand in late 2008 caused Carter’s Country in Spring to begin holding two classes a week instead of just one, said Bruce Gilchrist, who has taught CHL classes for 14 years. The double classes, each with 25-30 people, lasted until May, when attendance began to decrease due to summer vacations. With school back in session, the class remains full, but only one is offered a week.

“I don’t think the interest has died down as much as economics are playing a role now,” Gilchrist said.

He believes the increase is related to the uncertainty of government policies in relation to gun rights and increases in crime, as well as the media coverage of violent crimes. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office call statistics show that more robbery calls have come in from January to September than came in during the full 12 months of 2008 and 2007. Burglary calls also have increased, averaging 464 calls per month in 2009 compared with 387 per month in 2007 and 369 per month in 2008.

Gilchrist also sees more women and elderly individuals interested in receiving a CHL.

Gun Emporium manager John Shadbolt agrees, saying those who are most vulnerable want to be able to protect themselves.

Gun Emporium, in Conroe, also saw an increase in late 2008 and early 2009, so much so it had a waiting list three weeks out for its weekly class and started requiring a deposit.

“We’re getting a lot more calls from people who want to know about the course and what it entails,” said Emmett Kelly, owner of the Gun Emporium.

On Monday, Magnolia resident Scott Woods was at the shop signing up for a class, feeling it’s time he get his CHL.

“I’ve been wanting to take the C-H course for a long time,” Woods said. “I kept putting it off, but now I want to go ahead and get it scheduled.”

After people finish a certified course, they send their completion certificate and application to DPS, which will conduct a background check and determine whether the person is allowed to receive a CHL.

Walters encourages qualified people to exercise their right to bear arms, saying it’s just like any right and people should take advantage of their rights.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry both support gun ownership rights. They will square off in the GOP primary for governor in March.

Hutchison plans to weigh in on an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case by helping lead a bipartisan group from Congress in filing a legal brief urging the court to rule gun ownership is an individual right that applies at the state and local levels, in addition to the federal level.

Representatives of both candidates say they own rifles and handguns and that they are hunters.

Perry’s spokesman, Mark Miner, said the governor has a Texas license to carry a concealed handgun. The senator’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Baker, said Hutchison does not.

Miner said the governor has always been a strong defender of the Second Amendment, which addresses the right to bear arms. He said Perry, also a National Rifle Association backer, supported the legislation allowing Texans to carry concealed handguns and in 2007 signed the state’s so-called castle doctrine law allowing individuals more legal rights to shoot to kill if someone breaks into their home, car or business. It was the first bill Perry signed into law that year.

Perry also signed a law in 2007 closing off public access to records showing who has concealed handgun licenses – something open government advocates fought. Hutchison said she agrees with that law blocking the records from public view.

The trend is widespread across Texas, and most people are attributing the increase to the presidential election of Barack Obama because people started fearing their right to bear arms may be limited under the new administration.

Beginning in December 2008, the Texas Department of Public Safety started receiving an unprecedented number of applications of concealed handgun permits, said Tom Vinger, assistant chief of DPS media relations. During the first six months of 2009, DPS received an average of 12,700 applications per month, which is 46 percent more than the average for the first six months of 2008, which was 8,700.

By:  TheTimesandDemocrat.com

ISSUE: 2nd Amendment case

OUR VIEW: High court likely to make clear that guns cannot be banned

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

It’s safe to say the American Bar Association is correct in assessing the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as being the subject of more disagreement and less understanding than any issue regarding the Constitution.

The 2nd Amendment is commonly known as the law of the land guaranteeing citizens the right to bear arms – the right to own and possess weapons. The amendment references “militia,” and gun-control advocates have contended the amendment should be interpreted in terms of possessing weapons as part of such.

The Supreme Court last year put new teeth into the 2nd Amendment by overturning a District of Columbia law that all but forbid possession of weapons and gun ownership in the nation’s capital. Now the court is poised to enter the fray again, agreeing to hear a challenge to Chicago’s ban on handguns.

A decision will be significant as it would extend the court’s ruling to state and local gun laws. The D.C. ruling was unique since the capital has unique federal status.

An Associated Press report concludes that even gun-control supporters believe the court will rule similarly to the D.C. decision and strike down Chicago’s ban.

The court has said that most rights laid out in the Bill of Rights serve as checks on state as well as federal restrictions. Forty-four state constitutions already guarantee gun rights.

With Congress unlikely to weigh in on gun control amid so many pressing issues, it will again fall to the high court to provide direction on just how far gun control can go. Look for the decision to make clear that while governments have the right to regulate gun ownership, they do not have the right to prohibit it.

I know, I know, everyone is champing at the bit to get out in a deer stand in the woods of East Texas overlooking a feeder that you have been filling periodically with deer corn at $5.99 a bag for a month or better.

Of course there is always the hill country hunter that has his stand overlooking a deer run and for good luck a feeder will also be there and show all of the signs of being well tended for a few months.

We cannot overlook South Texas, the Boone and Crockett producer of the state, and picture the hunter in his/her stand that looks down a couple senderos, watching feeders and the chance that a big buck will walk out and offer you a clear and doable shot.

However folks this year with the bumper crop of acorns across the state you may have a long wait in your hunting stand and that presents another problem; you can either sit in your stand and wait or you can get out of your stand and in a stealthful manner after the fashion of Daniel Boone and hunt your deer down. Of course there is also the option of relocating your stand to a live oak area and try your chances there.

 Neither seems fool-proof because if you get out of your stand and go gliding through the woods, hills, or whatever the terrain you might be taking a chance of getting shot by some other hunter who mistakes you for a deer, or feral hog if you are like me and have grown a little stout through the years. I am quite proud of myself for dodging the negativity of using the word fat.

Back to the hunting fields; if you intend getting out of your stand and practicing your stealthful prowess at creeping up on a deer let me wholeheartedly recommend you wear Blaze Camouflage so you can be seen at a country mile by other hunters and not mistaken for a deer or ………. feral hog.

Of course the odds are with you if you do decide to get out of your stand and go tromping, excuse me, exercising your stealthful prowess as you stalk the trophy deer of your dreams because since the Hunter Education program was introduced in our great country the hunting accidents involving firearms has dropped by 98 percent.

Not bad at all and it sounds like your chances of getting shot in one of our country’s major cities is far greater than walking around in the woods occupied by a bunch of hunters all carrying high powered, centerfire, scoped rifles most of which have the power to turn over a Chevrolet pickup with one shot. It is a marvel what benefits can come from education.

There are a number of points that the 21st Century deer hunter must be aware of and one is the antler spread. You see in some counties, and Montgomery County is one, there must be a 13-inch spread in the antlers. Upon hearing this new law I foolishly mentioned to game warden Alan Biggerstaff that measuring the spread prior to shooting a deer presented a problem that I could see no way of overcoming.

He patiently told me that the spread of the ears is usually a good indicator and if the horns spread surpassed the ears the buck is likely to be legal. Here again I must admit that it is a marvel what benefits can come from education.

For the folks who wish to try their hand with a crossbow this archery season I would like to point out a couple items and the first is the bow draw weight must be a minimum of 125 pounds. The crossbow must have a mechanical safety and the stock must be no less than 25 inches long. And the TPWD Annual also addresses Arrows and Bolts – crossbows do not use arrows they use bolts – and the broadhead hunting tips must be a minimum of seven-eighths inches wide and have a minimum of two cutting edges.

Now true to the code of Texas the TPWD Annual states in bold type and underlined that you cannot carry a firearm while hunting during archery only season, BUT you can carry a concealed handgun if you have a Concealed Handgun License (CHL).

Our state is a CHL state, one of many, and the state government backs our Second Amendment rights in every arena of life. If your state Government Congressmen and Senators are pro-hunting and pro-CHL you really need to contact them and let them know you appreciate their stand on both subjects. If your elected officials are not pro-CHL and hunting then I suggest you fire them next year at the election.

Back to the archery season and CHL, if you happen to wound a deer I would recommend that when you find it if it is still alive that you not follow the temptation to draw your CHL legal handgun and finish the animal. Leave your handgun in the holster and go to plan B, whatever that may be.

The purpose of your CHL handgun is to allow you the means to protect yourself and family, therefore unless you anger a deer and it follows you home seeking revenge and is a threat to you or your family leave the handgun in your holster during archery season.

Larry J. LeBlanc is executive director of the Texas Outdoor Writers Association and a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America. Check out his web site at www.larryjleblanc.com.