This week, Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) and 13 co-authors filed Senate Bill 182, NRA-backed legislation allowing adult Concealed Handgun Licensees (CHLs) to protect themselves on the campuses of public colleges and universities in Texas. As you may recall, the state Senate passed this legislation as a stand-alone bill in 2009 and as an amendment to a higher education bill in 2011. During both sessions, the full House of Representatives failed to even consider this measure. During that time, high-profile shootings have occurred at the University of Texas at Austin and several blocks from the Texas A&M campus in College Station – both locations classified as 'gun-free zones', but in reality are simply places where CHLs are rendered defenseless against criminals under current law.
SB 182 has not been assigned to a senate committee yet, but NRA-ILA will continue to keep you posted on where it is referred and when it is set for a public hearing. The list of state senators who co-authored this bill can be found here. If your state senator is one of them, please thank him or her for signing onto SB 182. If your state senator is not one, please urge him or her to support this measure.
The House version of this legislation will be filed soon. It will be critical that you contact your state representative once it is introduced and let them know that inaction on this issue for a third session in a row is not acceptable!
Contact information for your state senator can be found here.
Contact information for your state Representative can be found here.
