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Austin TX fined $9k for banning OC at City Hall


lockman

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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/01/17/district-court-fines-austin-tx-9m-for-refusing-carry-of-handguns-at-city-hall/

 

 

 

On Thursday, the Travis County District Court ruled that the City of Austin, Texas, violated the law by barring handguns in City Hall and assessed a nine million dollar penalty against the city for the violation.

The concealed carry of handguns has been legal in Texas for decades and open carry for Texas’ concealed handgun license holders became legal on January 1, 2016.

In the January 17, 2019, ruling, Judge Lora J. Livingston explained that the Plaintiff was able to show that open carry was refused on April 4, 2016, April 6, 2016, April 12, 2016, July 1, 2016, July 29, 2016, and September 7, 2016. Judge Livingston ruled that the Defendants did not prove why City Hall should be treated differently among other public areas in Texas, writing, “Defendants did not meet their burden to establish an exception to Section 411.209(a) on any of the dates” that open carry was refused.

 

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$9,000 is certainly better than nothing, and the court decision is valuable in itself. I hope on appeal that it is upheld.

 

Now, that needs to happen is that the actual PEOPLE involved with making the violating decision in the Austin government need to be made liable for the fine amounts, so that it's not just taxpayer money being thrown at this.

 

Otherwise, even if they do lose on appeal, there really is no incentive for the PEOPLE making those illegal decisions to change their behavior.

 

Hit them where it hurts THEM personally, and the stupidity will stop.

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That amount of money is a paltry sum that doesn't even qualify as a "slap on the wrist". They will just up their fees and make that money back in less than a month - if that long.

 

In Wisconsin after the courts started assessing penalties things changed. Two police officers filed bankruptcy to avoid financial ruin in a sec. 1983 lawsuit filed against the officers ( the department was not named in the suite ).

 

 

 

 

^ this ***

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