AUSTIN – College students and faculty members with concealed handgun licenses would be allowed to pack their firearms on campus under a bill that the Senate tentatively approved Tuesday.
The guns-on-campus measure was offered by a senator who said he wanted to give Texas students protection against mass shootings such as occurred at Virginia Tech University in 2007. A deranged student killed 32 people in the massacre, the deadliest shooting by a single gunman in U.S. history.
"This bill is a matter of personal protection," said Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "The goal is to make college campuses safer places by giving persons on campus the ability to protect themselves."
Others raised concerns about more violence on campuses as the result of more available guns and said that colleges should be able to decide the issue.
Senators tentatively approved the legislation on a 20-10 vote. A second vote will be required to move the proposal to the House, where a similar bill died before a legislative deadline last week.
The measure faces an uphill battle in the House, with less than two weeks left in the legislative session and higher education officials expected to lobby against the proposal.
Wentworth fought off several amendments offered by critics, including one that would have made a guns-on-campus policy optional for college governing boards.
But he agreed to let private schools opt out of the requirement so that he could move the bill to the Senate floor. His bill also has no effect on a current law that prohibits firearms at sporting events.
Noting that the legislation was prompted by the Virginia Tech shootings, Wentworth said he "would feel personally guilty if I woke up one morning and read that a similar occurrence had taken place on a college campus in Texas and I had done nothing to allow those students to be able to defend themselves."
The San Antonio lawmaker said while a mass shooting at a college happens very rarely, "when it does, it's catastrophic."
Utah and West Virginia have laws that allow college students and faculty members to carry handguns on campus if they have a license, while Colorado allows its college and university governing boards to decide if they want to allow firearms in dormitories, classrooms and other buildings.
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, and Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, pushed for an amendment that would have let college regents decide.
"My concern is not about gun violence, it is about suicide," Van de Putte said, citing the "abundance of emotions" felt by many college students. "With the ability of 17- and 18-year-olds to have access to firearms, my fear is that some would take that weapon and use it on themselves."
Duncan said he had difficulty supporting a bill that mandated a major change in college policy without giving college governing boards a chance to consider it.
"I have never voted against a bill involving the Second Amendment, but this is a legitimate policy issue, one that we should allow our governing boards to decide in managing their campuses," he said.
Wentworth said the change would be "gutting" his bill, as most colleges would probably continue to ban concealed handguns. He prevailed, on an 18-12 vote.
Senators also rejected a provision that would have given parents and students the right choose a dormitory free of firearms. They agreed to one that would ban handguns in polling places and bars on campus, and at regents' meetings.
Wentworth noted that to receive a concealed handgun license in Texas, a person must be at least 21 and receive several hours of training. The minimum age requirement, he noted, means that mostly college seniors, graduate students and faculty members could legally pack a handgun.
Source/Source/Source
