Lawrence Person's BattleSwarm Blog 11/25/2020
The filing season has started for next year’s 87th Texas Legislature, and Rachel Malone, Texas Director of Gun Owners of America, sent out an email highlighting various gun-related bills (both pro- and anti-Second Amendment) in the forthcoming session. One entry that caught my eye was
Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) HB 579, which would regulate the use of SWAT teams.
The part that caught GOA’s eye was Sec. 1701.753. (c) “The existence of a legally owned firearm in the home of an individual does not in itself constitute evidence of an imminent threat.†That would indeed be an improvement in further normalizing lawful gun ownership. I also approve of the use of mandating body cams for SWAT team members. Indeed, every uniformed peace officer should wear a film body cam at all times while on duty. They provide invaluable evidence by good cops and discourage bad behavior by the few bad apples.
I’m a bit more ambivalent about the bill outlining the acceptable use cases for SWAT teams. There is a real concern about the increasing militarization of low enforcement, but such guidelines are better promulgated at the local rather than state level.
More:
https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=46468
