Texas Two-Fer: Lawmakers Approve Constitutional Carry, 2A Sanctuary Bills

[Charlie T Waite]

The state of Texas has long had a reputation as being vehemently pro-gun. However, they also had a training requirement you had to deal with before lawfully carrying a firearm. That’s less than ideal, to say the least. What the state needed was constitutional carry.

Then again, I’m of the opinion that every state needs constitutional carry, though plenty of states disagree.

Anyway, without constitutional carry, Texans were still going to have to go through a mandatory training class just to exercise their Second Amendment rights. That’s wrong on every level.

Luckily, that’s now also history.

A measure long sought by conservative activists allowing Texans to carry handguns without a license is on the cusp of becoming law after the Texas Senate approved a compromise on the bill Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott has said he would sign the permitless carry proposal into law.

“We should have ‘constitutional carry’ in Texas,” Abbott told North Texas radio host Rick Roberts in April.

Just before midnight Sunday, the House approved the deal, hashed out behind closed doors, in an 82-62 vote. The Senate approved the deal Monday in a 17-13 vote.

“This is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms,” the Senate sponsor, Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, said on the floor Monday. “I think it is a bill that is the strongest bill I’ve seen in my legislative career regarding the rights of our Second Amendment.”

House Bill 1927 would nix the requirement for Texas residents to obtain a license to carry handguns if they’re not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing a gun.

The compromise keeps intact a number of changes the Senate made to the House bill to assuage concerns from the law enforcement community, including striking a provision that would have barred officers from questioning people based only on their possession of a handgun.

I’m not going to lie, that’s one compromise provision I’d just as soon see having not been kept. There’s absolutely no reason to question anyone for carrying a gun without probable cause they shouldn’t be.

Still, as bad as that provision is, this is still a huge win for Texans.

Now, all that’s left is for Gov. Abbot to sign the bill and it’s all over but the anti-gun crying. Then again, when is that really ever over?

Yet this isn’t the totality of pro-gun action by the Texas legislature. Monday evening, the state Senate gave its final approval to a Second Amendment Sanctuary bill as well.

Texas: SHALL NOT Be Infringed!

2A Sanctuary State Act by @justinaholland & Con Carry by @RepMattSchaefer PASSED final steps in #TexasSenate tonight & head to Gov @GregAbbott_TX

Grateful for their bold leadership & proud to coauthor these bills!#txlege #2A #KeepAndBearArms pic.twitter.com/NWoNezYXm8

— Shelby Slawson (@ShelbySlawson) May 24, 2021

That’s fantastic news as well, and Second Amendment activists in the Lone Star State deserve a round of applause and a big thanks from gun owners around the country. These two bills are now certain to become law, and they’ll give a big boost to Second Amendment activism and the right to carry revolution, making it far more likely that other red states will soon follow Texas’ lead.

Gov. Abbott still needs to sign these bills into law, but that’s almost a formality at this point. Texas will soon be a Constitutional Carry and Second Amendment Sanctuary state, and that’s a very good thing for all of us who support the right to keep and bear arms.

https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2021/05/25/texas-constitutional-carry-2a-sanctuary-n45625