Not all rights are absolute rights
AUSTINAMERICAN STATESMAN

It was difficult last week to listen to gun talk at the Texas Capitol and gun talk at the Hays County Commissioners Court and not wonder whether the discussions were taking place in the same state.

The first piece of legislation to clear through the Texas House and Senate this session was a bill expanding self-defense claims. The governor signed it, and now Texans who use lethal force to protect themselves from attack can do so in their automobiles just as they would their homes. Feel threatened? Open fire. Texas juries petit and grand have been historically sympathetic to selfdefense claims, so the bill's value in changing lives for the better is limited.

About 30 miles south of the state capitol, Hays County Commissioners took the first steps to restrict the use of firearms in the unincorporated areas of the county. Hays County is gun friendly, just like the rest of Texas, but population growth is forcing commissioners to look at restricting the use of firearms.

That's because the commissioners are dealing with a real death and not the hypothetical threats to life and limb that propelled the gun legislation through both legislative chambers and onto the governor's desk.

Daniel Galicia, 7, was killed when a round fired apparently by a neighbor shooting at targets hit him.

The neighbor, Jose Barrera Espitia, was jailed on a charge of manslaughter. He told police that he had no idea he had hit the boy.

So, while the Legislature expanded gun rights because of something that might happen, Hays County Commissioners appointed a committee to restrict gun rights because of something that did happen.

Gun advocates would be hard pressed to make a coherent argument against the action contemplated by the Commissioners Court. Living in close proximity means compromise. And in this case, the life-and-death issues weighing in the balance are not an abstraction.

Gun rights, like all rights, are not absolute. If legislators are at all interested in learning that lesson especially as it applies to guns they should consult with the Galicia and Espitia families, whose lives were shattered by a bullet. Bear in mind, that bullet was perfectly legal right up to the moment that it struck a 7-year-old boy.

Call end to redistricting game

Political redistricting in Texas has a long and ignoble history. Just ask House Speaker Tom Craddick.

Back in 1971 during his second term, Craddick had the audacity to criticize House Speaker Gus Mutscher for his links to the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal.

When the Democrat-dominated Legislature created the redistricting map for the following decade, it drew a line right down the middle of Craddick's street.

Craddick still carries the scars of 1971. Now he's in a position to help Texas take a step toward ending redistricting madness at the congressional level. Instead, he's perpetuating it. The most recent episode was also the ugliest the second redistricting of this decade in 2003 that required three special sessions and still ended in acrimony.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has also been a victim of political redistricting. Rather than settling scores, he has in every session since 1993 introduced legislation that would take some of the political edge off the redistricting process.

Wentworth's latest attempt to bring some sanity to the system is a bill requiring the Legislature to appoint an eight-member bipartisan commission of unelected officials to draw up congressional districts. While the same approach to all districts would be preferable, Wentworth has adopted a pragmatic plan of changing congressional rules now and leaving legislative redistricting for later.

The Legislature would have a straight up-or-down vote on the commission's map. In the case of a commission deadlock, the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court would appoint a ninth member to break the tie.

Last month, the Texas Senate approved Wentworth's bill.

Now it's bottled up in the House Redistricting Committee, chaired by Rep. Joe Crabb, RAtascocita. And unless the GOP leadership lifts the legislative roadblocks, there's little chance the measure will make it to the House floor.

If some lawmakers want to continue an awful tradition of redistricting, so be it. But they ought to have the integrity to go on record with a vote to that effect. Which is why Craddick should show some audacity again and ensure that a congressional redistricting commission gets a floor vote in the House.

San Antonio Express-News