Strap ’em If You Got ’em: Texas Set to Allow Guns on Campuses and Open Carry
Senate Bill 17, which passed out of the Senate with a vote of 20-10 while students were on spring break, would require the state’s public universities to allow handgun license holders to carry their firearms on campus.
“I’m happy about campus carry. The police are always minutes away when seconds count,” C. J. Grisham, the president of Open Carry Texas, told VICE News. “But this doesn’t really extend rights to anyone. It only removes restrictions.”
Last week the Texas Senate also approved Senate Bill 11, authored by Republican State Sen. Craig Estes, which would allow those with concealed weapons permits to openly carry holstered handguns. His supporters have repeatedly pointed to the fact that Texas is currently one of six states that prohibit citizens from openly carrying handguns.
“We have 800,000 licensed carriers in Texas that have been vetted, trained, and can be trusted to do what is best for them,” Estes declared to the Senate ahead of the vote last Tuesday. “I believe in freedom. The question we need to ask is not should we permit them to do this, but why are they forbidden to do this?”
“If open and campus carry pass, more law-abiding citizens would be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights without restrictions,” said Grisham. “And if they don’t, well… you will have people who refuse to be victims. They will carry anyway, and current laws will criminalize them.”
Texas is taking some really nice steps in the right direction to restore its “gun friendly” state status.
Texas is currently one of only a handful of states that do not allow open carry; a black mark on its reputation for many years.
Furthermore, Texas will be one of the few states that will allow concealed carriers the opportunity to carry their weapon on a University campus.
Although many other states are debating whether or not to allow their Universities to be areas where one can legally carry a gun, Texas is charging ahead with this.
Of course, there are you usual folks trying to push back on this. Police, Professors, Anti-gun groups, and some kind named Pelosi – what a coincidence!
The refrain is the same as those in other states who oppose these measures. However, the worst excuse has to come from one especially vocal student.
“Honestly, I don’t trust us,” Rohit Mandalapu, a student government vice president-elect at the University of Texas at Austin who testified against the bill last week.
This guy doesn’t want freedom because he doesn’t feel he can be trusted with it! Is this the United States of America we are still living in? Who are these people and who raised them?
It is no wonder that he comes from Austin, the liberal anti-gun Stronghold of Texas.
Unfortunately, for Mr Mandalapu he is just going to have to be extra careful and make sure he doesn’t get too stressed out by all the vigors of campus life. God forbid he or one of his classmates take responsibility and not shoot themselves or someone else.
Congrats Texas on the good gun news!
