Private colleges pulled into Texas’ campus carry gun debate
By TOM BENNING, The Dallas Morning News — Private colleges and universities in Texas have been thrust last-minute into the Legislature’s campus carry debate, as Democrats have launched a gambit to complicate the contentious gun proposal in the session’s final days.
The House gave final approval Wednesday to a measure to allow licensed Texans to carry concealed handguns in most university buildings. Passage came only after a bipartisan group revised the bill in key ways in a late-night rush Tuesday.
But campus carry took center stage, as lawmakers amended the bill to make private universities, like public ones, unable to totally opt out of the provisions. Legislators also tweaked that bill to allow all schools the option of keeping guns off parts of campus.
With campus carry also likely heading to conference committee, opponents are hoping the private school provision will poison the bill’s chances. If that doesn’t work, the partial opt-out proposal would still mark a small victory for gun control advocates.
But university officials — both private and public — are now scrambling to figure out where they stand.
Some people just don’t get it. They don’t understand the benefits to having open and concealed carriers on a college campus. These students (and teachers) could prevent a massacre from happening on school grounds. There’s just such a huge amount of B.S. floating around regarding the whole “guns on campus” debate.
Let’s break it down here.
Texan law already allows concealed carry permit holders the right to carry on university campuses-this legislation, if it passes in September, will allow carriers to enter classrooms, cafeterias, and dorms. This isn’t a huge change in the current policy, so the amount of opposition surprises me.
When I see the list of added places this legislation covers, all I see are locations that will better be protected by responsible armed citizens.
Our nations colleges and universities are meant to educate our society. Our Youth. Our future. Let’s not forget to teach them their Constitutional rights, including the Second Amendment.
