My constituents are scaring me and I can’t escape.
Via Guns
The Texas House approved rules to install panic buttons and eject hostile members of the public from their offices Wednesday, following a confrontation between lawmakers and open carry advocates visiting the statehouse on 2015’s opening day, The Houston Chronicle reported.
“I think that public servants and members of the public ought to feel safe and secure when they come to the Capitol,” Democrat Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, the measure’s sponsor, told the newspaper. “That being said, it came to my attention there was some disagreement as to whether members have to accommodate individuals or groups that are acting in a threatening or belligerent manner.”
The amendment would allow a house member and their staff to control access by the public to their offices. If a house member decides to install a panic button, he or she does so out of their own pocket, according to the measure’s text.
The change in rules was inspired after 15 to 20 members of Open Carry Tarrant County visited several house members who said the group hassled them and their staff. At least one of the confrontations was caught on video.
The video shows the confrontation turn hostile after a member of the gun group asks Democrat Rep. Poncho Nevarez, who represents House District 74 (west Texas), if he’ll vote in favor of the measure and he responds that he won’t.