A measure long sought by conservative activists allowing Texans to carry handguns without a license is on the cusp of becoming law after the Texas Senate approved a compromise on the bill Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott.
Abbott has said he would sign the permitless carry proposal into law.
“We should have ‘constitutional carry’ in Texas,” Abbott told North Texas radio host Rick Roberts in April.
Just before midnight Sunday, the House approved the deal, hashed out behind closed doors, in an 82-62 vote. The Senate approved the deal Monday in a 17-13 vote.
“This is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms,” the Senate sponsor, Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said on the floor Monday. “I think it is a bill that is the strongest bill I’ve seen in my legislative career regarding the rights of our Second Amendment.”
House Bill 1927 would nix the requirement for Texas residents to obtain a license to carry handguns if they’re not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun.
The compromise keeps intact a number of changes the Senate made to the House bill to assuage concerns from the law enforcement community, including striking a provision that would have barred officers from questioning people based only on their possession of a handgun.
The deal also preserves a Senate amendment enhancing the criminal penalties for felons and family violence offenders caught carrying. Among other Senate changes that survived was a requirement that the Texas Department of Public Safety offer a free online course on gun safety.
Proponents of what Republicans call “constitutional carry” argue that Texas should follow the lead of at least 20 other states with similar laws on the books. Meanwhile, gun control advocates are sounding the alarm about making it easier to carry firearms after repeated instances of gun violence — including 2019’s massacres in El Paso and Midland-Odessa that left 30 people dead.
Under current state law, Texans must generally be licensed to carry handguns openly or concealed. Applicants must submit fingerprints, complete four to six hours of training, and pass a written exam and a shooting proficiency test. Texas does not require a license to openly carry a rifle in public.
Some Democratic Senators raised concerns Monday that the bill would endanger Texans and put at risk the state’s police officers.
“Are you aware there are a large number of families on both sides of the aisle who are literally afraid of your legislation?” asked state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.
Schwertner said “there is always a concern” surrounding legislation that deals with firearms and guns and that he “absolutely” thinks the bill will make Texas a safer place.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Republicans who were initially noncommittal about the bill were under immense political pressure this session from conservatives and gun rights advocates, who have long lobbied the Texas Legislature for permitless carry but historically struggled to win support. A solid majority of Texas voters don’t think permitless carry should be allowed, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
Permitless carry saw a breakthrough in April when the House passed HB 1927. Patrick initially said the Senate did not have the votes for it, but he created a new committee, referred HB 1927 to it and got it to the floor, where it passed earlier this month. The Senate amendments initially alarmed some supporters of the proposal, with bill author Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, saying he was “very concerned” they could lead to procedural issues in the lower chamber.
Some El Paso lawmakers have denounced the bill, noting this is the first legislative session since the deadly mass shootings in 2019.
“All [El Paso community members] wanted was something better. All they wanted was some accountability. Yet here we are,” state Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat, told colleagues on the floor Sunday. “When the doors were closed, I heard lots of promises. I haven’t heard them since.”
–Sami Sparber, The Texas Tribune
Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune here. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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Sgt. Sig says
Time for Florida to follow also. Most Southern States will change their laws and allow carry without permit in the very near future. The country is becoming extremely hostile towards anyone that doesn’t follow their radical socialist agenda’s. I give it 5 years max and most people with conservative views will move to Southern States and ALL will be carrying because We the People believe 100% in the 2nd Amendment and understand you don’t need to be taxed by government and given a piece of paper in order to carry a firearm to defend your family or yourself from violent mobs and tyrannical administrations.
Richard says
I totally agree 100% with your prediction. Plus if a second civil war breaks out, the South against the North which one would have the best chance of winning, those with guns or those with their socialist programs? I know the answer to that even without thinking for a nano-second.
Skibum says
What could possibly go wrong??!! Yes, more guns, more guns, more guns! Let’s not stop there… every teen who reaches 16 years of age should be rewarded with their own semi-automatic pistol as a right of passage. After all, a little gun has to be MUCH safer than that big, 2-ton car we hand over the keys to so they can load up their teenage friends and rush out onto I-95 at 70+ MPH, right? Okay, now for a reality check… as a retired law enforcement officer who knows what it is like for any cop to have to deal with armed individuals while on duty, ARE YOU PEOPLE SUPPORTING THESE INSANE LAWS NUTS? It is difficult enough for law enforcement to do their job without making it exponentially more dangerous for them as well as the people they come in contact with on a routine basis by telling everyone they can “pack heat” like they lived in the western town of Tombstone, Arizona and needed a sidearm for protection from “bandidos”, assorted outlaws and “injuns” whenever going out to the grocery store or to fill the car up with gas. Not only that, but have you for one second even considered how impossible it is to arrive at a call for service and find multiple, armed individuals? Who’s the good guy(s)??? Who’s the bad guy(s)??? Do I just “shoot ’em all and let God figure it out??? All of the many mass shootings we are seeing a dramatic increase of over the years has to do with MORE guns on the streets, and MORE people carrying guns around who should not be! The answer, although a complicated one, is made even more difficult by the gun manufacturers and the ignorant NRA pushing this insane idea that we should return to the old west where everyone had to protect themselves from each other by carrying a sidearm. Well folks, we have hundreds of millions of weapons ALL OVER in today’s society, and yet our mass shootings are increasing. Our society’s level of violence has NOT decreased with all of the hundreds of millions of weapons out there now… what makes you think more weapons is a good idea and would help??? We need less weapons in the hands of civilians, not more. This country would be doing law enforcement a big favor if they didn’t have to deal with so many gun nuts, many of whom have no skills, no training, and often no brains or common sense when it comes to the possession, use and storage of a loaded weapon. We need to realize that before we will be able to start ending this madness.
Pogo says
@Never again
https://www.google.com/search?d&q=the+SA
Until the next time.
“Day on day he waited. So much of a revolution for so many people
is nothing but waiting. That is one reason why tourists rarely see
anything but contentment in a crushed population. Waiting, and its
brother death, seem so contented.”
― Sinclair Lewis, It Can’t Happen Here