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“Be careful discussing sensitive topics,” professors at the University of Houston were warned in a faculty meeting about the new “campus carry” gun policy.
An unofficial forum of professors suggested that teachers may want to “drop certain topics from your curriculum,” and “not ‘go there’ if you sense anger,” the Houston Chronicle reports. (emphasis added)
A new Texas law will allow people to carry concealed handguns on university campuses.
Jeffrey Villines, a Ph.D. student in the university’s English department, shared a photo of what he said is a slide from a “recent campus carry dialogue at UH, in response to faculty concerns about dangers from armed students.”
Reflecting on the presentation, Villines says “teachers cannot forbid firearms in class, or even ask who is carrying one.” He claims the school would be “fined $10k for violations.” (emphasis added)
A spokesperson at the University of Houston stressed in a message to Salon that this slide was not created by the university’s Campus Carry Workgroup and “is not official policy.” The spokesperson also indicated that the university’s […]
This is nonsense. First, it ignores the fact that even on campus you have to be over 21 to legally carry a firearm AND have successfully completed Texas’s rigorous licensing and concealed handgun training program. It shouldn’t be necessary (but apparently is) to point out that the vast majority of college students are under 21. Secondly, studies show that people who legally conceal-carry are among the most law-abiding in the country. They commit crimes at a lesser rate even than do law enforcement officers. Rarely do concealed-carry permit holders misuse the firearms they carry.
That doesn’t seem to be what the law says.
It is very clear that the intention of S.B. 11 is for the individuals who make up the campus community to carry concealed weapons. It says, “A
A license holder may carry a concealed handgun on or about the license holder’s person while the license holder is on the campus of an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education in this state.”
You are also incorrect in your characterization of Texas law. As described by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence citing Tex. Penal Code § 46.06(a)(2
Penal Code § 46.06(c).
“There is no minimum age to possess firearms under Texas law. Texas law prohibits intentionally or knowingly selling, renting, leasing, or giving or offering to sell, rent, lease, or give any firearm to any child younger than age 18.(1) However, it is an affirmative defense to this offense that the parent or the person having legal custody of the minor had given written permission for the sale or, if the transfer was other than a sale, the parent or person having legal custody had given effective consent.2 Federal age restrictions impose stricter limits.
To carry a weapon on one’s person one has to be 21 or in the military.
Ordinary people carrying guns routinely may be law-abiding, but they have definite fear and psychological issues. The problem is whether they are law abiding or not a lot of children get killed, either through accidental discharge, because another child gets their hands on the gun, or suicide. As the Telegraph reported , “Toddlers in American have accidentally shot one person a week in 2015.”
None of this of course addresses the real concern: emotional immature students carrying guns into classrooms.
Having gone through the Texas CHL training myself, I know exactly what the law says. I also know that Texas law is superseded (or whatever the legal word is) by the federal law which specifies a minimum age of 21 to even possess a handgun, and 18 to possess a long gun. Texas law states what it does because it was written in full awareness of the federal statutes, so the lack of age restrictions is moot (Texas likes to _appear_ independent, even when it isn’t). The Texas law also specifies a 21-year age limit to qualify for a concealed-carry permit, which is what is at issue here–in other words, by both federal and Texas law no one under 21 is going to be able to legally carry a firearm on any school campus in the state. Any student, no matter what his or her age, who carries a firearm onto campus without benefit of a legal permit is still committing a crime, even under the new law. And anyone who _does_ have a Texas CHL has had a thorough background check, been fingerprinted, been instructed in the laws and practices governing use of deadly force and, as an added benefit, had a further block of instruction on strategies for negotiating peaceable solutions to confrontations. The fear reaction depicted in the article that sparked my comments is irrational and unwarranted based on the actual facts.
The fact is that Utah has had permitted carry on college campuses for several years, and has never had an incident. I fully anticipate that Texas will have a similar experience.
I’m almost speechless, carrying guns in schools and classrooms? That’s truly insane. Any legislator who voted in favor of something like that, needs to be hunted down, shot with a tranquilizer gun, wrapped in a straight jacket, than permanently hospitalized, given Thorazine several times a day, and provided with on going Electro-Shock Therapy for life.
I’m not being completely serious, but do feel an overwhelming urge/need to express my total outrage at such foolishness..
Perhaps a few deep breaths will help! 🙂 As i just responded to Stephan above, Utah has had “campus carry” for several years and never had an incident. The media often make it sound like thousands of binge-drinking party animal college students will be emboldened to carry a firearm on campus. This picture is false. First, only students (and faculty) who are over 21 are allowed to carry (hence, a relatively small minority of students). And second, in order to do so they must first attend and pass the rigorous Texas concealed-handgun course. These campus carry measures, by the way, are motivated by the incidence of mass shootings on college campuses involving firearms carried by UN-licensed, UN-authorized perpetrators which the police have been unable to prevent because they can’t be everywhere at once. Even though I’m a concealed handgun license holder in both Texas and Utah, I’m not necessarily an advocate of these laws; but I’m not an opponent either.