Discussions about lax gun control laws got me to wondering what Texas state legislators are up to. The Texas legislature meets every two years, and the next session begins today. Now that the Republicans control both houses of the legislature, they can pass just about anything they want to, and gun control laws are sure to be on the agenda, once they get through dealing with our $28 billion dollar deficit, and redistricting. To give an example of the kind of craziness that might be considered here, in the previous session, there was an attempt to pass a bill to allow holders of a Texas concealed weapons permit on college campuses. MInd you, this is the state where in 1966, Charles Whitman shot 17 students from the top of the University of Texas tower.
Texas has some of the weakest gun control laws in the country, which is not surprising, given the our wild west, macho, testosterone laden image. After all, we have agovernor who bragged about shooting a coyote while out jogging, when it threatened his daughter's dog. The fact that he would feel the need to carry a laser sighted .380 Ruger in his belt while jogging in a gated subdivision gives you an idea of what kind of mentality prevails here in quite a few of our elected officials. I live out in the boonies, and frequently go hiking with my Labrador retriever, and although we occasionally see a lone coyote, they always turn tail and run away. In his defense, Perry, who is a concealed handgun premit holder, said he is afraid of snakes. A lot of us are more afraid of Rick Perry packing heat, but I digress.
To give an example of the kind of craziness that might be considered here, in the previous session, there was an attempt to pass a bill to allow holders of a Texas concealed weapons permit on college campuses. MInd you, this is the state where in 1966, Charles Whitman begin randomly shooting students from the top of the University of Texas tower in the summer of 1966, back when I was completing my degree. I remember it well, because except for the fact that I had a dentist's appointment that day, I would have been walking from my physics class to the library adjacent to the tower. By the time it was over, Whitman had killed 15 people including his wife and mother, and wounded 31. In the last legislative session, there was even a bill introduced to allow high school students to bring their guns to school with them in their cars, because they might want to go hunting after school. This was after the Columbine shootings. Fortunately this bill did not pass either.
A lot of states are concerned with what Utah does. It just seems to be a moneymaker for them. They're willing to issue a license to anyone.
Texas scores a miserable 9 out of 100 points on the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence scorecard. You can carry a concealed handgun here, but you are supposed to take a class and get a concealed weapon license. You see ads frequently for classes being offered. However, the law doesn't say Texans have to have a Texas license. We have already heard a lot about Arizona's lax gun control laws, and Arizona scores a 4 our of 100 on the Brady Scorecard. However, there is a state that scores 0- Utah. Classes for the Utah license are offered in Texas, and in 2009, some 6,000 Texans got Utah licenses to carry concealed weapons.
State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth has filed a bill to close this loophole. It would require Texans to have a Texas license to carry a concealed weapon. State Senator Jerry Patterson, who helped pass the Texas concealed weapon license bill in 1995, worries that requiring Texas licenses will damage reprocity with other states.
It looked like I wouldn't have time to renew my Texas license ... and I didn't want to have a lapse.
-Texas State Senator Jerry Patterson
Patterson got a Pennsylvania permit because he didn't have time to take the Texas class. He could have also saved time by taking one of the classes are being offered in Texas for a Utah permit, which only requires 4 hours of class time without the bother of live shooting practice. A Utah permit also saves you money. It costs a mere $62.50 compared to $140 for a Texas permit.
Now I lived in Utah for five long years. It is a state where deer hunting is a family affair, and a lot of people with big families to feed, go deer hunting to put meat on the table. Every year for the opening of the deer season, the main highway running north south through the small town where I lived was solid blaze orange with deer hunters heading into the canyons. Families set up campers and the men went hiking up into the mountains to get their deer. I can see why less restrictive concealed weapons licenses might work in Utah, but Texas has places like Houston, the 4th largest city in the U.S. Already New Mexico and Nevada have withdrawn recognition of Utah licenses.
I hope lawmakers in my state see reason and follow suit, but given the composition of the incoming state legislature, I wouldn't bet on it. As my grandfather, who was a pharmacist who worked at a state hospital used to say, batten down the hatches, the legislature is back in town.
UPDATE: HB 86, a bill to allow those with valid concealed weapons permits on college campuses was filed in the Texas House on the same day as the shootings in Arizona. In October the UT Student Government reaffirmed their support for a continued ban on concealed weapons on college campuses. In a story in the campus newspaper, The Daily Texan, John Woods, a representative of the Student Government said that suicide should be included in any discussion of expanding the number of weapons permitted on the campus, since suicide is the second most common killer of college students.
We have had zero homicides [on campus] in the last three years and only three in 30 years, but we have three to four suicides every year,” Woods said. “By adding additional means, we could be putting more students at risk of suicide.”
Here are the relevant sections of HB 86:
A license holder may carry a concealed handgun on or
about the license holder's person while the license holder is on the
campus of an institution of higher education or private or
independent institution of higher education in this state.
(c) An institution of higher education or private or
independent institution of higher education in this state may not
adopt any rule, regulation, or other provision prohibiting license
holders from carrying handguns on the campus of the institution.