Texas Dems Nix Silly New Gun Laws

Senate Republicans in the Texas legislature tried to pass a couple of new (and very bad) gun laws in the current session of the legislature. I fully expected these laws to pass the legislature since the Republicans hold large majorities in both houses, but it looks like the Democrats have been able to kill one of the bills and take the worst part out of the other.

The first was a bill that would allow people with a concealed carry license to carry handguns on the campus of public colleges and universities. Senate Republicans loved this bill even though officials from nearly every Texas university testified that they opposed the bill because it would make their campuses far more dangerous places.

Democrats didn't have the votes in the Senate to defeat this bill outright, but they were able to keep it from coming to the floor for a vote, where it would surely have passed (since it takes more votes to bring a bill up for a vote than it takes to pass the bill). Undeterred, the Republicans approved the bill as an amendment to a Democratic bill regarding college financing matters.

I guess they thought attaching it to a Democratic bill would assure its passage. They were wrong. The sponsor of the bill withdrew her bill rather than send it up for a vote with the gun amendment attached. The Republicans finally were able to attach the amendment to another bill which finally received Senate approval and was sent to the House (where Republicans have a two to one advantage). It looked like they might finally get the gunlaw passed.

But that didn't happen. While the House Democrats couldn't vote the bill down, they could use House rules to defeat it. Democrats raised a point-of-order -- namely that the gun amendment did not pertain to the bill to which it was attached (a finance bill). That point-of-order excised the amendment from the bill and probably killed it for this session of the legislature (since there are less than two weeks left in this session).

The other bill regarded the legislators themselves. Senate Republicans took a bill that would allow people like District Attorneys and judges to carry concealed weapons (with a permit) into places where weapons are currently prohibited (schools, churches, bars, etc.). This gives them a right that other Texans (except for police) do not have. But it makes a bit of sense. These are law enforcement professionals who know and understand the law, and they may well have created some enemies while performing their job duties.

But the senators decided they should also have the privilege of carrying firearms in places where other Texans cannot, so they added legislators to the list of people who can carry firearms anywhere. That was a scary proposition considering some of the nut-jobs that have been elected to the legislature -- people that seem to have no idea of what the laws are or what the Constitution permits. But the Senate passed the bill and sent it to the House.

Once again they were disappointed. A House committee has removed legislators from the law, and it now looks like it will be passed without their inclusion. With the session so close to its end it is very unlikely they will be able to get themselves back into the bill. The general feeling of Democrats was expressed by Rep. Pete Gallego of Alpine, who said the legislators shouldn't have rights unavailable to other Texans.

The Democrats, because of their tiny numbers, have been unable to block many bad bills in this session including a bad redistricting bill, a voter ID bill, and a draconian financing bill that will cost thousands of teachers and state employees their jobs. But I applaud their efforts on these two gun bills. Texas is a little safer because of their efforts.