Two New Gun Rights Bills in Texas

The Texas Senate has approved both open carry (for those with concealed carry licenses) and allowing licensed concealed carry in buildings on public college campuses.  Both votes were strictly along party-lines.  All Repubs for, all Dems against.  The campus carry bill is the most controversial.  From the  negative side: “The people of Texas don’t want this bill. The administrators don’t want this bill. Faculty doesn’t want this bill. Workers and employees don’t want this bill. Students don’t want this bill,” Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, said. “Why are we doing this?"

 First, the factual assertions are incorrect.  I personally know students, faculty and a  number of Texans who are not opposed to the bill.

Second like so many politicians on both the left and rights, they never knew, forgot or don’t care that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land.  An individual’s prejudices and ideology and party loyalty are not the law of the land.  The Second Amendment protects both the right to keep and bear arms.  While these rights are not absolute, certainly the Second Amendment protects carrying in college campus buildings by state-licensed individuals.  While government can restrict carrying in highly sensitive places, e.g. jails, courthouses, etc.  public university campuses are not in the same category as these other locations.   Much of the Constitution and all of the Bill of Rights are “contermajoritarian.”  It doesn’t matter what the majority wants, these rights prevail over legislative and popular preference.  In Texas and most, if not all, of the South, segregated public schools were required by statute. If, in  1953  there was a referendum on whether public schools should be racially integrated, it would have lost badly.  The next year,  the Supreme Court ruled otherwise.  The only way for the majority to overrule the Constitution is to follow the difficult process of amending it.

Thirdly, fear is a powerful motivator that has been used throughout history to trample rights (Red Scares 1920-21 and 1947-57,,  crime and rape by black students in integrated public schools, communist threats in 1950’s, etc.).  There was no increase in; gun crime after Texas passed concealed carry.  No state saw an increase in gun crime after passing concealed carry.  Concealed carry is already allowed on campus grounds.  There have been no shootings that I know of by licensees on college grounds.  Further, to get a license, a person must be 21, pass a shooting demonstration, have “clean” criminal record, be fingerprinted and screened, and pay a sizeable amount for the training and license.  The people most likely to be a problem will not be able to get a license.

Finally, many public universities and colleges nationwide show a widespread disrespect for First Amendment rights. (See the FIRE website).  They show a similar disrespect for Second Amendment rights.  Apparently there are public officials and public employees who think they are above the law.  Prejudice and ideology trumps the law for these arrogant, self-righteous individuals.