From an email:
More on the Fort Worth, TX Gun Show Ban!
CHUCK SILCOX Senior Council Member Chairman - S&CD Committee Fort Worth City Council crsilcox@aol.com
This letter is a follow-up to all those that sent me an e-mail before the July 11, 2000, Safety & Community Development Committee meeting and to those who have also sent one since that time.
The problem have is the desire of some of my city council colleagues to either out-and-out ban Gun Shows from city owned facilities, or put heavily increased restrictions on them, which would do almost the same thing.
The city council had an Executive Session (closed door meeting), July 25, with the city attorneys, to discuss what the city can and cannot do "legally" in the area of either adding more restrictions or banning gun shows from city property. The thought was to inform the council members of the state & federal laws and constitutions, so we wouldn't "run wild" and design some overwhelming restrictions or completely ban gun shows, without at least knowing what the consequences could be.
The city attorney told us that if we were to add restrictions (such as banning collectors and/or occasional sellers) or ban gun shows from city facilities, we should expect one or more law suits to be filed by the show promoters and maybe others. The attorney also told us that, considering the Houston case and current state law, he believes our chances to prevail in court are less than 10%. In other words, we would go into court knowing we stood only a little to no chance to win, lose the case and waste taxpayers dollars on both attorney's fees and probably on punitive damages. Not very intelligent.
Understand, the three on the council that are strongly for adding heavy restrictions, or even more so, actually want to stop the gun shows, are Wendy Davis, Ralph McCloud and Becky Haskin. So far the Mayor hasn't taken a position ... at least not publicly that I'm aware of. On July 18, at a second, special called S&CD meeting, the committee voted 3-1 (with Wendy Davis being the 1) to send this issue to the full council. The committee's recommendation was to leave current city ordinances alone and send a resolution to the Texas delegation in the US Congress, requesting that current federal gun laws be amended to allow not only FFL's to do back ground checks, but also occasional sellers and collectors, with certain limitations. This is not what I prefer, but it is at minimum, what it will take to hopefully keep the full council from going any further.
This coming Tuesday, August 8, the City Council will vote on this matter. Thi s is the vote that counts! If you, or anyone you know, is concerned about this vote, I suggest you do at least two things. One, write a letter or an e-mail ( barrk@ci.fort-worth.tx.us ) to Mayor Ken Barr, asking for his support; and two, be at the August 8 meeting to speak your mind. So far, myself, Clyde Picht, Jim Lane, Frank Moss and Jeff Wentworth are the 5 that are not for more restrictions or a banning of the shows.
Hopefully, none of the five of us will change our mind.
The meeting starts at 7:00 PM on AUGUST 8. One difference at the full council meeting from the committee, is that everyone who fills out a card gets to speak for 3 minutes. The committee was limited to a total of 2 hours, so only a few were able to speak, but the council has no limit as to length of the meeting and can go on all night.
My position is: (1). According to the BATF & the FWPD, there have been no problems at any Fort Worth Gun Show, and NO complaints about Gun Shows in Fort Worth (until now), i.e., If there isn't a problem, then why are we trying to fix it? and (2). If we do "fix it," it will get us into court and our attorneys have said we have a slim to none chance to prevail. It would be a waste of taxpayer money.
CHUCK SILCOX Chairman Safety & Community Development Committee
-- 30 --
If you attend these Ft. Worth shows (well, even if you don't
), a note of support to those pro- councilmen wouldn't hurt. Forget the antis, they are beyond reason.
Here's the pro- addresses (don't forget the mayor mentioned above):
Clyde Picht -- cpicht@landslideclyde.com
Jim Lane -- District2@ci.fort-worth.tx.us
Frank Moss -- District5@ci.fort-worth.tx.us
Jeff Wentworth -- District7@ci.fort-worth.tx.us
More on the Fort Worth, TX Gun Show Ban!
CHUCK SILCOX Senior Council Member Chairman - S&CD Committee Fort Worth City Council crsilcox@aol.com
This letter is a follow-up to all those that sent me an e-mail before the July 11, 2000, Safety & Community Development Committee meeting and to those who have also sent one since that time.
The problem have is the desire of some of my city council colleagues to either out-and-out ban Gun Shows from city owned facilities, or put heavily increased restrictions on them, which would do almost the same thing.
The city council had an Executive Session (closed door meeting), July 25, with the city attorneys, to discuss what the city can and cannot do "legally" in the area of either adding more restrictions or banning gun shows from city property. The thought was to inform the council members of the state & federal laws and constitutions, so we wouldn't "run wild" and design some overwhelming restrictions or completely ban gun shows, without at least knowing what the consequences could be.
The city attorney told us that if we were to add restrictions (such as banning collectors and/or occasional sellers) or ban gun shows from city facilities, we should expect one or more law suits to be filed by the show promoters and maybe others. The attorney also told us that, considering the Houston case and current state law, he believes our chances to prevail in court are less than 10%. In other words, we would go into court knowing we stood only a little to no chance to win, lose the case and waste taxpayers dollars on both attorney's fees and probably on punitive damages. Not very intelligent.
Understand, the three on the council that are strongly for adding heavy restrictions, or even more so, actually want to stop the gun shows, are Wendy Davis, Ralph McCloud and Becky Haskin. So far the Mayor hasn't taken a position ... at least not publicly that I'm aware of. On July 18, at a second, special called S&CD meeting, the committee voted 3-1 (with Wendy Davis being the 1) to send this issue to the full council. The committee's recommendation was to leave current city ordinances alone and send a resolution to the Texas delegation in the US Congress, requesting that current federal gun laws be amended to allow not only FFL's to do back ground checks, but also occasional sellers and collectors, with certain limitations. This is not what I prefer, but it is at minimum, what it will take to hopefully keep the full council from going any further.
This coming Tuesday, August 8, the City Council will vote on this matter. Thi s is the vote that counts! If you, or anyone you know, is concerned about this vote, I suggest you do at least two things. One, write a letter or an e-mail ( barrk@ci.fort-worth.tx.us ) to Mayor Ken Barr, asking for his support; and two, be at the August 8 meeting to speak your mind. So far, myself, Clyde Picht, Jim Lane, Frank Moss and Jeff Wentworth are the 5 that are not for more restrictions or a banning of the shows.
Hopefully, none of the five of us will change our mind.
The meeting starts at 7:00 PM on AUGUST 8. One difference at the full council meeting from the committee, is that everyone who fills out a card gets to speak for 3 minutes. The committee was limited to a total of 2 hours, so only a few were able to speak, but the council has no limit as to length of the meeting and can go on all night.
My position is: (1). According to the BATF & the FWPD, there have been no problems at any Fort Worth Gun Show, and NO complaints about Gun Shows in Fort Worth (until now), i.e., If there isn't a problem, then why are we trying to fix it? and (2). If we do "fix it," it will get us into court and our attorneys have said we have a slim to none chance to prevail. It would be a waste of taxpayer money.
CHUCK SILCOX Chairman Safety & Community Development Committee
-- 30 --
If you attend these Ft. Worth shows (well, even if you don't
), a note of support to those pro- councilmen wouldn't hurt. Forget the antis, they are beyond reason.Here's the pro- addresses (don't forget the mayor mentioned above):
Clyde Picht -- cpicht@landslideclyde.com
Jim Lane -- District2@ci.fort-worth.tx.us
Frank Moss -- District5@ci.fort-worth.tx.us
Jeff Wentworth -- District7@ci.fort-worth.tx.us