Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Licensed concealed carry on TX state college campuses again an issue.

During the Texas legislature's prior session, bills to allow those with valid Texas concealed carry licenses to carry on public college campuses never got up for a real vote. This will be an issue again in the new session which starts in January. You can make a good argument that a ban on concealed carry on public college campuses is a violation of the Second Amendment. Let's be clear on this. There is no requirement that licensees do so. The bills only give them freedom of choice on the issue. I know my libertarian bias is showing, but one would think that a society that labels itself free would welcome freedom of choice among law-abiding, trained, citizens who have cleared the legal and practical hurdles of getting a license to carry. Bill White would have let college Presidents make the decision. That was a cop-out. Decisions effecting freedom of choice for law-abiding licensed citizens should be made by politically accountable officials, mot politically unaccountable bureaucrats. One of the few (and far between) positive things about Rick Perry was that he would not leave the decision to the bureaucrats, but to politically accountable officials. IMHO, many liberal Democrats will be tip-toeing gingerly around this issue in the coming months. We can probably anticipate delaying and other tactics against the bill from some of these reps. LINK

4 comments:

  1. Bravo! I'm very pleased to see this back in Texas' legislative house. Lyle Larson, who lost to Ciro Rodriguez in his bid for the 23rd congressional district several years back, is one of many newly elected state representatives. He's one I hope will give this bill a fighting chance toward passage. It's long been overdue. I agree totally with the sponsor that we don't need a replication of VT's tragedy in our state. I never understood this Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde mentality with school administrators when a legal concealed carry holder stepped onto university grounds. As though their institution was and needed to remain baby proof. What the anti-carry folks fail to understand is violence knows no boundaries. Better to allow people the ability to protect themselves than to mourn their loss while dealing with a cascade of civil suits.

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  2. Let's cut to the chase . . . I'm licensed . . . if I felt that my travels on campus left me in danger of bodily harm, I would carry ---- nobody would know. I don't care about the politics of a college pontiff who has never met the creature.

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  3. 44 & Ridgway:
    Thanks for the comments. Stay tuned!
    Please Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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