Court Opinion

ID: 9635278
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:44:48.699534+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:22.597651
License: Public Domain

DON WITTIG, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The majority correctly disposes of the jurisdictional issue but I am constrained to dissent to the unjustified restraint of Texans’ right to bear arms. Only the legislature, under our constitution, may restrict the right to bear arms. The legislature expressly did not intend that a 30 year-old conviction for what is now a class B misdemeanor, should prohibit the issuance of a concealed hand gun permit. Accordingly, I part ways with my respected colleagues on this second issue and would affirm the trial court.
The only evidence in the record of legislative intent, the testimony of former State Senator Jerry Patterson,1 is erroneously *339and summarily rejected by the majority. Senator Patterson was both the author and chief sponsor of the 1995 handgun legislation and presented live testimony in the county court trial of this case. The majority originally opined that under General Chemical Corp. v. De La Lastra, 852 S.W.2d 916 (Tex.1993), we are barred from considering the testimony of an individual legislator in construing a statute. To the contrary, while not legislative history, the writing or testimony of a legislator, can be used as persuasive authority in determining the legislative intent. Id. at 923. To the credit of the majority, on rehearing they acknowledge this error. They still insist however, on totally ignoring both Senator Patterson’s forthright and virtually unchallenged textimony as well as the statutory construction arguments below. "While the credibility and persuasiveness of an opponent of such a bill would be suspect at best, here we are favored with the author and chief sponsor of the legislation. Given the record before us, Senator Patterson’s persuasive authority is materially in point and the only argument consistent with the constitutional right. Senator Patterson makes four distinct and pertinent points. First, the legislature never intended the proscriptions of the statute to apply to class B misdemeanors. Second, when the hand gun act was passed in 1995, quite logically the legislature intended the act to be implemented as the law existed in 1995. Third, the legislature did not intend the law of 19702 to apply as the majority implicitly suggests. As Senator Patterson stated in his testimony, “none of us knew what the penal code was in 1970, or I assumed we didn’t.” It should be clear to the reader as the majority correctly points out, possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana was patently a felony in 1970; equally clear is that the same offense was not a felony either when the legislation passed in 1995 or at appellant’s subsequent application for a permit and trial. Finally, Senator Patterson stated, “the House on many occasions sat at a table and discussed at great length the — actual going through the penal code as it was written in 1995 saying this should be a bar, this should not, line by line, item by item, offense by offense [a]nd came up with what we have there now, which is felony conviction.” The senator further testified: “So we went through line by fine ... [a]nd arrived at a standard based upon the penal code as we knew it. We had no knowledge of prior penal codes in the State of Texas.”
Senator Patterson’s opinions are well founded in our law. The Texas Constitution grants its citizens the right to bear arms. See Tex. Const, art. 1, § 23. The constitution carves out a restricted limitation, allowing the legislature alone to “regulate wearing arms with a view to prevent crime.” Id. The 1995 legislature declined to place a lifetime prohibition on today’s citizens who possess less than half an ounce of marijuana. How does the interpretation forever banning an identical Texan, law abiding for more than 30 years, promote the caveat “with a view to prevent crime.” Id. If the legislature, in enacting this statute, intended to deny citizens’ constitutionally based right to bear arms against acts no longer classified as felonies, they could have so specified. Indeed, today’s ruling flies dangerously near the face of our constitution, which requires the legislature, not us, to advisedly regulate wearing arms only with a view to prevent crime. We are thus restrained to interpret the statute consistent with the constitution. We are afforded not even the whisper of a notion how a misdemeanor offense of possession of less than one-half ounce of contraband 30 years ago is a regulation “only with view to prevent crime.”
*340We normally look to a statute s plain meaning when it is unambiguous. See Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc., v. Rylander, 6 S.W.3d 278, 284 (Tex.1999). This general rule is not without exceptions. Id. One such exception exists where the application of the literal language of a legislative enactment would produce an absurd result. Id. In the instant case the appellant who completed deferred adjudication for less than half an ounce of marijuana thirty years ago, without further incident, is denied the right to carry a concealed handgun; an identical offender found guilty a relatively scant 2 or 3 years ago would be permitted this right or privilege, because the legislature no longer recognizes the act as rising to the seriousness of a felony. In short, the citizen with a 30 years clean record is effectively afforded less rights than one who committed an identical act recently. The Texas Department of Public Safety itself admitted at trial to this inconsistency and requested guidance.
In Tune v. Dep’t of Pub. Safety, 23 S.W.3d 358 (Tex.2000), our state supreme court observed that the legislature sought to keep concealed handguns out of the hands of convicted felons, even those who had satisfactorily completed their community supervision. The material focus of that decision was the word “conviction” and did not address offenses that the legislature no longer considered serious enough to be a “felony.” If we look more closely at the word “felony,” further insights ensue.
The Code Construction Act, section 311.011, informs that we shall read words in context and construe them according to the rules of grammar and common usage. See Tex.Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.011. The concealed handgun law defines felony: “is any offense so designated by law....” The verb “is” is used in the present tense, not the past tense. The rules of grammar require us therefore to view offenses designated by law, exactly as Senator Patterson testified, as they existed at that time, not the past tense. The offense is not a felony intended or designated by the legislature.
The Code Construction Act, section 311.023, suggests interpretation considering: “circumstances under which the statute was enacted.” Tex.Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.023. Once again, as the Senator pointed out, the circumstances then existing would allow appellant to obtain a permit to carry. Similarly, what greater indi-cium of legislative intent could be found than the fact the legislature repealed the very offense as felony of which appellant was so long ago convicted? Are we to be heard to say that the repeal of a law prior to passage of a new statute is of no moment.
The Code Construction Act, section 311.021, presumes both that the legislation is both constitutional and “a just and reasonable result is intended.” Tex.Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.023. Today we interpret along questionable constitutional grounds and in a manner, that appears to me, to be less than just and reasonable. If convicted yesterday of this offense, appellant could obtain a permit today. Our constitutional rights are lost incrementally. Today’s erosion of right, however slight, is not unlike one of the first drops of rain on Noah’s head. And so today our court too, with the best of intentions, joins the insidious trend, adding just one more incremental restraint, to the already thousands of laws across our country limiting our citizens’ right to protect themselves. Against this tide, I would stand with Senator Patterson and the trial court and hence affirm.

. Senator Patterson served a distinguished career as Senator from the Eleventh District for six years. He is a pilot and former United States Marine Corps officer. He fought sever*339al years to gain passage of the concealed handgun act.

. Surely the legislature did not intend the definition of felony to include crimes that were felonies in 1865, 1900, 1941 or 1970. This is a far different question presented than deferred adjudication or successful completion of probation.