Texas lawmakers on Saturday preliminarily approved House Bill 972 by State Rep. Allen Fletcher. The bill would allow students, faculty, and staff members along with anyone over the age of 21 who has a concealed handgun license to carry weapons on campus. According to the Texas Tribune, 24 other states have campus carry but not Texas.
The bill has been called the “campus carry” bill, but to call it that would be nothing short of insulting to a real campus carry bill. In reality, this bill by Rep. Allen Fletcher is garbage. It’s weak and shows just how spineless lawmakers have become in Austin.
Fletcher along with other Republicans will argue that this bill will extend gun rights to Texans. Republican lawmakers will be able to run on the fact that they passed campus carry in Texas. Lawmakers will use the vote to show just how much they love the Second Amendment. Don’t fall for it friends. Republican lawmakers did not give more power to responsible gun owners. Instead, lawmakers gave more power to the colleges and universities.
How did lawmakers do this? According to the Texas Tribune, language in the “campus carry” bill allows for schools to opt-out. All the schools have to do is consider the input they receive from students, faculty, and staff before making a decision.
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1 comment:
So we are at the all or nothing stage again? This bill makes the default for campus carry to be legal, where currently the default is that it is illegal. While not the ideal solution this bill is an improvement and we need to take what we can get. We didn't loose all the rights we don't have now over night, we're not going to get them back in one fell swoop either.
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