GUNS, MARRIAGE, AND ABORTION

The topics to be addressed this week are parental notification concerning abortion, gun control, and same sex marriages.

I support the current law which was passed in 2005 by the Texas Legislature as SB419. The law states that a prohibited practice is “an abortion on an unemancipated minor without written consent of parent, managing conservator, legal guardian or court order.” The law must ensure that the minor is protected in those instances when obtaining written permission from the parent or legal guardian could put the minor in danger. Written consent guarantees that parental notification has taken place when there is a parent to be notified. Since written consent goes beyond parental notification, parental notification concerning abortion is not a state legislative issue.

As a lifelong gun owner and hunter, I cherish my Second Amendment right to own firearms. The most recent threat to our Second Amendment right has come from the ‘Patriot Act,’ which is a federal law. We need to let our federal lawmakers know that we are not willing to forfeit our constitutional rights in the name of homeland security. I support our law enforcement community, and consider it the duty of a state representative to ensure that our police are not out-gunned by the criminals. I will stand with Texas law enforcement to do what is necessary to protect them. We can and must protect our police without surrendering our Second Amendment rights. Gun control is an issue that must be addressed by the U. S. Congress not the Texas Legislature.

Marriage is the union of a man and a woman. That is how it is defined by my church, Zion Lutheran Church of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and by laws passed by the state legislature. In the last general election Texans approved an amendment to the Texas Constitution which again defined marriage as a union between a male and a female. Marriage is protected when husbands and wives honor their wedding vows. Marriage is not threatened by political semantics. While the state legislature may need to clarify the civil rights and obligations of people in domestic relationships, that debate must not involve a redefinition of “marriage.”