By DAVID SALEH RAUF
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Jan. 30, 2009, 9:19PM
Michael Guzman, a 25-year-old Texas State University senior and Marine veteran, takes his Kimber Ultra Carry II handgun just about everywhere he goes. Except to school.

Texas lawmakers, how­ever, are crafting ways to allow licensed handgun owners to tote their guns more easily. One proposal would let guns be carried on campuses, and another would allow licensed handgun owners to openly brandish their guns in public.

Together, the two issues are likely to be the most contentious gun-related laws of the session.

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is preparing the campus concealed-carry gun measure. He calls it a “safety protection bill” for students and faculty.

“I don’t want to wake up one morning and hear on the news that some madman went on a Texas campus and picked off Texas students like sitting ducks,” Wentworth said. “I’m doing what I can to prevent that from happening in Texas.”

A national debate over guns on college campuses was sparked almost two years ago after the fatal shootings of 32 students at Virginia Tech.

Since then, 17 states have introduced legislation to let students and faculty pack heat on campus. None has passed.

A Texas House study conducted by the Law Enforcement Committee — which noted only 11 U.S. universities allow concealed guns on campus — recommended passing a campus gun bill.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Legislature considered an open-carry measure. In 1997 and 1999, then-state Rep. Suzanna Hupp, a Republican from Lampasas whose parents were shot and killed in the 1991 Luby’s massacre in Killeen, authored similar legislation. The bills didn’t pass.

Wild West attitude feared
Gov. Rick Perry is among those supporting the notion of letting adult students bring handguns on campus if they are licensed to carry them.

The issue has been met with opposition from gun-control advocates, university officials, campus law enforcement and some lawmakers.

Earlier this week, the University of Texas at Austin’s student government overwhelmingly passed a resolution supporting their campus gun ban and calling on “elected officials in Texas to oppose attempts to eliminate campus weapons bans.”

“I don’t want to return to a 19th-century Wild West urban atmosphere for Texas,” said state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth. “I oppose both concealed-carry on campus and open-carry, but psychologically open-carry is the worst by far because of the implications it has when you’re walking down the street.”

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said he has not seen the bills but would not be inclined to support guns on campuses. “I think it’s an issue of safety,” he said. “Will that improve or diminish the safety of students? My gut instinct is most members would say it actually diminishes the safety of faculty and staff. … They didn’t pass it before, and they don’t have as good a chance for passing it now.”

Texas State Rifle Association lobbyist Alice Tripp said the group is “not forwarding the issue.”

At present, people with handgun permits have to keep their weapons concealed.

Online push for change
Ian McCarthy, a 22-year-old online marketing entrepreneur in Austin, wants to be able to brandish one openly.

“Criminals want an easy target. When they see you can fight back, they’re going to go somewhere else,” McCarthy said.

He is a member of the national pro-gun group OpenCarry.org, which has raised more than $10,000 online to buy radio and billboard ads across the state and has collected more than 53,000 online Texas signatures in favor of changing the law.

Coleman doubts it will get the nod from fellow lawmakers.

“Open-carry, I think that for most members that would be going too far,” he said.

Frazzled wrote:(face plant into desk)

Why?...why?...why?...

Frazzled wrote:

1/6/2009--Introduced.

Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit a person from possessing a firearm unless that person has been issued a firearm license under this Act or a state system certified under this Act and such license has not been invalidated or revoked. Prescribes license application, issuance, and renewal requirements.

Prohibits transferring or receiving a qualifying firearm unless the recipient presents a valid firearms license, the license is verified, and the dealer records a tracking authorization number. Prescribes firearms transfer reporting and record keeping requirements. Directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain a federal record of sale system.

Prohibits: (1) transferring a firearm to any person other than a licensee, unless the transfer is processed through a licensed dealer in accordance with national instant criminal background check system requirements, with exceptions; (2) a licensed manufacturer or dealer from failing to comply with reporting and record keeping requirements of this Act; (3) failing to report the loss or theft of the firearm to the Attorney General within 72 hours; (4) failing to report to the Attorney General an address change within 60 days; or (5) keeping a loaded firearm, or an unloaded firearm and ammunition for the firearm, knowingly or recklessly disregarding the risk that a child is capable of gaining access, if a child uses the firearm and causes death or serious bodily injury.

Prescribes criminal penalties for violations of firearms provisions covered by this Act.

Directs the Attorney General to: (1) establish and maintain a firearm injury information clearinghouse; (2) conduct continuing studies and investigations of firearm-related deaths and injuries; and (3) collect and maintain current production and sales figures of each licensed manufacturer.

Authorizes the Attorney General to certify state firearm licensing or record of sale systems.

malfred wrote:

Frazzled wrote:

Can't see it :(

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
im not from texas, but still think that, if you're properly licensed to carry, then you should be allowed to carry wherever/whenever you please. naturally, there are some places where i would think it better to leave the piece in the car, like going to my bank to make a deposit dont wanna get confused in there for sure.

Actual old West stats are more in line with a modern inner city.

Texas doesn't have gun licenses. We buy the guns to deal with the idiotic/disturbed/vioent individuals.

ShumaGorath wrote:

Actual old West stats are more in line with a modern inner city.

Alright everyone! Lets aspire to inner city crime rates!

Texas doesn't have gun licenses. We buy the guns to deal with the idiotic/disturbed/vioent individuals.

Who bought guns to deal with idiotic/disturbed/violent individuals. Texas: A vicious circle.

Belphegor wrote:For guns being banned from certain places, gun-checks are the way to go.
Leaving a gun in a car in a urban area is a bad idea.
In my old neighborhood people will break via smashed windows into cars for hoodies or a towel or whatever they can grab quick.
I had to lock everything in my trunk when I left my car, even just picking up food for 10 minutes.
It was lame.

with colleges:
as a ex-cab driver in a college town, I hated driving coked-up Frat boys around with their propensity to fly off the handle and get violent
give that guy a gun... no thank you

also side note:
The problem with gun carry laws is that it makes it easier to snatch a free gun to use and dispose of.
You can't quickdraw against a master-lock to the back of the head.

ShumaGorath wrote:More open carry laws need to be accompanied by tighter restrictions on gun liscences. I see one thing and not the other, therefore I'm not for it.

dietrich wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:More open carry laws need to be accompanied by tighter restrictions on gun liscences. I see one thing and not the other, therefore I'm not for it.

I agree with you two days in a row. The third seal is broken!

Too much gun regulation is about what class of citizens can legally buy a weapon and whether or not they can carry it around loaded. We need more regulations keeping firearms out of the hands of idiots. Every accidental shooting, whether it's a spouse plugging their significant other when coming home late, or a child who finds daddy's pistol in the night stand - that's the real tragedy.

Personally, I'm in favor of giving all law enforcement and military the ability to conceal carry. I think that would be the most trusted segment of America. Then when some moron opens up on a subway or a college campus, there's (hopefully) someone around who can at least stop the moron from reloading.

I was at Penn State in 1996 when a 19-year old took her deer rifle onto Campus and killed a student. That was a tragedy. But, the shooter had been in and out of treatment and should never have been in possession of a firearm (her father gave her the weapon). Another student wrestled the weapon away from her before the police sniper got a shot off. It was legal that she owned it. And that strikes a note with me for several reasons, not the least of which my mother crossed the same area about 60 minutes before the shooting.

I think it's a grand dream that people only own legal firearms and that we somehow keep them out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them. But, it's a dream and it'll never come to fruition. In the mean time, I'd rather have some people carrying firearms who are trained and willing to use them to defend the public from the occassional nutcase that crops up.

I learned to never point a weapon at any target or object that I wasn't willing to kill or destroy. And I made the decision a long time ago, that I was willing to do anything to protect my family.

dietrich wrote:She was given the weapon by her father. She may not have been allowed to possess it under Pennsylvania law at the time, I do not know. But, she could have walked into Wal-Mart and gone home with it (no waiting for rifles).

She was randomly lashing out and fired at four other people, badly wounding one and missing the other three.

Grignard wrote:

dietrich wrote:She was given the weapon by her father. She may not have been allowed to possess it under Pennsylvania law at the time, I do not know. But, she could have walked into Wal-Mart and gone home with it (no waiting for rifles).

She was randomly lashing out and fired at four other people, badly wounding one and missing the other three.

So what? This has nothing to do with carry law on campus or open carry. From what you're saying she would have had the weapon regardless of carry law.