Locksmith Industry Run like a Police State

Locksmiths around Texas are getting used to being herded, branded and then put out to pasture at the beck and call of the Department of Public Safety/Private Security Board (DPS/PSB).  Ever since the State mandated licensing of the locksmith industry with all powers being handed to a select board of overseers, none of whom are locksmiths, there has been a steady amount of pressure applied to individuals to remind them that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not guaranteed to all individuals; you have to get permission from a licensing board, not exactly the America envisioned by our founders.

Over the years locksmiths have been instructed on how to jump rope, balance on beams and properly bow before our masters, the DPS/PSB.  We’ve been treated to mandated continuing education regardless of how absurd the requirement relates to journeymen locksmiths followed a couple of years later with additional mandated hours of this same meaningless exercise simply because members of the board thought it was a good idea; never mind that an individual’s license to compete in the market place hinges on well meaning but delusional ‘do gooders’ forcing others to bend to their desires without regard for rhyme or reason.

This morning an email from the Texas Locksmith Association (TLA) arrived in my email box advising me of an Emergency PSB Meeting to be held in Austin, Texas, on October 8^th, that’s four days from now; not exactly a timely message for anyone trying to schedule an event.

What constitutes a reason for an Emergency Meeting of the DPS/PSB?  Is there something so important it can’t wait until the regular quarterly meeting scheduled for the end of October?  Quarterly meeting are when locksmiths are normally ignored and told to sit there and shut up so this is an extra opportunity to run rough shod over individual rights and destroy the free market a little bit more.

I remember the local news media interrupted a ball game with an
Emergency Alert Screen to tell everyone the President has signed an Executive Order prohibiting ICE from deporting illegal aliens – Now back to your regularly scheduled program.  I suppose anything constitutes an emergency now; like that couldn’t have waited until the regular news hour.

The request which requires this Emergency Meeting (translate request to mean firm instructions from our Masters), is intended to mandate all locksmiths submit a new set of fingerprints to the DPS/PSB when ever they wish to renew their locksmith licenses. 

“35.187 deals with Renewal Applications.  Under current rule, all security company employees only have to submit fingerprint cards to the DPS when first hired.  The DPS wants a new fingerprint card to be submitted upon each renewal of pocket cards.

The Rules Committee has been working on a solution for a few months and will report their findings at the Oct. 8 meeting.”

Excuse me while I barf in the trash can; but the Rules Committee has been working on a solution for a few months?  How hard is it to tell the DPS/PSB to shove this one where the ‘sun don’t shine’?  (I worked very hard to word that without swearing by the way)

Did the DPS misplace everyone’s fingerprint files or do they think we all go around altering those little lines and indentions on our finger tips just to throw the authorities off when they’re looking for a specific locksmith?  

There’s another rule somewhere in the DPS/PSB system requiring locksmith’s fingerprints be recorded and submitted only at specific ‘authorized’ locations.  The charge for this ‘service’ (that’s the same term prostitutes use when they do the same thing to their customers) is around $30 (give or take); but that’s not the point.

Fingerprint file cards don’t change over the years and this is one more example of the Police State Mentality of the DPS/PSB as they pull the puppet strings of everyone they have been given authority over.

The original reason for licensing locksmiths supposedly was to protect the public from unscrupulous fly by night crooks posing as locksmiths.  If that really was the case, and I seriously doubt that, then it would appear the DPS/PSB is going after folks who are already licensed.  Honest law abiding locksmiths who have already proven they are not a threat to society are being treated as if they were unscrupulous fly by night crooks. 
 

The real threat to our society, or so it seems, is the DPS/PSB. 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.