On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice passed Senate Bill 354 by state Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio), by a 4 to 2 vote. This legislation would allow concealed carry license holders to protect themselves on the campuses of public colleges and universities.

Opponents of this measure will continue using scare tactics and predicting horrible consequences if this bill passes, so your state Senator need to hear from you!

Please contact your state Senator and urge him or her to support SB 354 by voting to “suspend the regular order of business” so that the measure can be debated and voted on by the full Senate, and to oppose any gutting amendments to the bill – including any attempt to allow taxpayer-funded public colleges and universities to “opt-out” of its provisions!

http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=14979

“It’s hard to imagine that stricter gun control laws would have any discernible value in averting tragedy. Homicides have actually declined since the demise of the assault weapons ban.

Utah has the nation’s most permissive gun laws, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, but it has one of the lowest murder rates in the country. California, with the strictest laws, has a homicide rate higher than the national average.”

http://reason.com/archives/2011/01/13/why-gun-control-still-wont-wor

“The Violence Policy Center’s … own data, when inspected closely, doesn’t dent the case for gun rights. Over the past four years, there have been more than 60,000 homicides in the United States. The slayings carried out by permit holders amount to fewer than one of every 200 murders. For every licensee who killed someone, there are more than 20,000 who didn’t.

Nor does the evidence indicate that allowing people to carry pistols causes crime. Many of the shootings done by permit holders took place in their homes—where you don’t need a concealed-carry license to keep a gun….

…When Florida captured national attention by legalizing it in 1987, critics forecast mass carnage. When other states followed suit, the same predictions were heard.

But they turned out to be false alarms. Instead of an epidemic of violence, the nation saw a drop. Since 1991, the murder rate has been cut nearly in half. You don’t have to believe that “shall-issue” laws caused the decline to grasp that they certainly didn’t get in the way.

“The record of the past two decades demonstrates that you can strengthen the right of law-abiding adults to protect themselves against crime without making the world more dangerous.”

http://reason.com/archives/2011/03/31/the-unconcealed-truth-about-ca

by Michelle Malkin

“…Project Gunrunner was the spawn of Beltway bipartisanship. It was established in 2005 as a pilot project under the Bush administration and run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The intended goal of the program’s sting operations: stop illicit firearms trafficking along the Southwest border through close surveillance of undercover gun purchases and coordinated intervention with Mexico.

The deadly result: federally sanctioned gunwalking of high-powered weapons from U.S. officials right into the hands of drug cartel killers…CBS News reported last month that Project Gunrunner “allegedly facilitated the delivery of thousands of guns into criminal hands.

At least six veteran ATF agents and executives stepped forward to expose how ATF presided over the purchase of hundreds of high-powered rifles and pistols — over the objection of the very private gun shops that the Obama administration’s anti-gun zealots have vilified.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/2011/03/30/project_gunrunner_obamas_stimulus-funded_border_nightmare

(Reuters) – “President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential “finding”, within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources familiar with the matter.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/30/us-libya-usa-order-idUSTRE72T6H220110330?WT.tsrc=Social%20Media&WT.z_smid=twtr-reuters_%20com&WT.z_smid_dest=Twitter