Phil King Kills Constitutional Carry in Texas

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Guest article by Derek Willis

Lone Star Gunners, this is not a post I was hoping to write. This piece is sure to infuriate each and every one of you. On Tuesday, April 25, Phil King all but said that he does not care about what We the People want. Taking a point of personal privilege at the committee meeting, King said, “I can tell you on numerous days, my office has received anywhere from 100-300 calls, and uncounted emails and other communications” regarding HB375 and HB1911. That said, since HB1911 has already been voted out, it is highly unlikely that any calls were for that bill.

That is not the infuriating part, however. This whole mess started the week prior when Phil King said that Attorney General Ken Paxton’s staff had indicated some issues they had with HB375. The issue was specifically not tying child support to the right to bear arms. Just a few hours following those statements, AG Paxton posted the following on Facebook:

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This post directly contradicted King’s statements, which we are not in any way sorry for applying pressure to his office. On Friday, AG Paxton again released a statement on Facebook contradictory to King’s statement:

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Because of these contradictions, Phil King decided that he absolutely had to address the issue. He called the issue “fake news” and slammed us for spreading an “internet myth.” He went on to bash us for “harassment and bullying of my staff, and threats made against me and others by various… supporters of HB375.”

Let me be perfectly clear to Mr. King: No one at Lone Star Gun Rights has ever told anyone to call and curse out Phil King’s staff. That said, we completely understand how infuriating it is being constantly ignored by a public official elected to serve us; however, that does not give King a valid excuse to deny us our rights. While serving in the capacity of a committee chairman, Phil King represents ALL of Texas, not just his district. Only when he is on the House floor does he represent District 61.

King continued from his throne, but admitted he is ignoring us. “My staff had to clear off 400 voicemails in just the last few days, many of which were language none of us would use in public.” Right here, King admits that he is receiving between 100-300 phone calls per day, an undisclosed number of emails and taken calls, and has deleted over 400 voicemails just from the past few days. I guarantee that no other single piece of legislation is garnering anywhere near this level of attention from across the State. He is blatantly admitting that he does not care about our support for HB375.

At this point of the meeting, Phil King asked a representative of the Attorney General’s Office, Steve Pier, to testify as a resource witness. The exchange went as follows:

Phil King: With regard to the current version of HB375 by Stickland pending before this committee, have the concerns raised regarding child support enforcement by the AG’s Office been corrected in that bill’s current draft?

Steve Pier: No sir. And while it is the default setting of the agency to raise concerns anytime a bill draft is in conflict with current law or current practice, we certainly did so and appreciate you hearing us out on that. In the case of HB375, the agency is prepared to forego those concerns, and continue to be the nation’s number one child support enforcement agency without that tool in our toolbox.

This clearly caught King off guard. What Mr. Pier said was that King is now the only obstacle standing in the way of HB375 getting out of committee. Clearly shocked, King stammered to ask “So what you’re informing me today, for the first time, and the committee, is that you are withdrawing the Attorney General’s office’s concern over the child support issue in HB 375?” Mr. Pier simply replied, “Yes sir.” You can watch the entire exchange here:


The evidence is clear. While Phil King may continue to dismiss us as “fake news,” he cannot escape the facts. King clearly was hoping that the AG’s Office would take the heat for his act to leave HB375 pending. Fortunately, Mr. Pier’s testimony only further proves that Phil King is no friend to our right to bear arms. He ignored the over 75,000 petitions that were brought back in March specifically for HB375. He is deliberately ignoring 100-300 calls per day, and hundreds of voicemails and emails, also for HB375. Phil King is NOT for Constitutional Carry.

Here is the cold hard truth; the 85th Legislative Session ends May 29th. Even if King passed HB375 out of committee today, it still has to go through Calendars, a House Vote, Senate Committee, Senate Calendars, and a Senate vote. In the House, the Calendars Committee has to report a bill within 30 days, but their last day of reporting is May 9th.

Sadly, Phil King has single-handedly killed HB375 with these unnecessary delays. We will not quit fighting until the final gavel of the 85th Session. We will also be preparing for Primary season and gearing up to find candidates who actually support Constitutional Carry. To do this, we need a war chest. Every incumbent will be tough to beat, but we have beaten them before.

Unfortunately, we cannot do this without your donations. Please donate what you are comfortable with, and consider doing so monthly. Primary season will be here before you know it and we need all the donations we can get if we want to beat these RINOs. Thank you for your loyalty and support during this session. We could not have gotten nearly as far as we did without your help. With your help, we can fire those responsible for this travesty.

Originally posted here: https://lonestargr.com/legislative-updates/phil-king-kills-constitutional-carry/

About Derek Willis

DerekA Navy Veteran from Houston, TX with an obsession for history, Derek’s passion for the 2nd Amendment is rooted deep. He’s written for a few organizations including IJReview and Being Libertarian, but he is thrilled to be exclusively dedicating all of his time and energy to Lone Star Gun Rights. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns for Derek, email him at Derek@LoneStarGR.com or tweet him @DerekRWills.