Texas governor takes heat from gun enthusiasts on school safety plan
Parts of Governor Greg Abbott’s new school safety plan are being criticized by Texas gun enthusiasts even as they are hailed by gun control groups like Texas Gun Sense.
Abbott wants to make it harder for a teenager to gain access to a firearm owned by their parents but this is opposed by Lone Star Gun Rights, Open Carry Texas, Texas Firearms Freedom, and Texas Gun Rights.
Under current Texas law, parents are required to store their weapons safely so that children cannot gain access to them. “It is unlawful to store, transport, or abandon an unsecured firearm in a place where children are likely to be and can obtain access to the firearm,” reads section 46.13 of the Texas Penal Code. The section defines “child” as anyone younger than 17. Abbot wants to change this to 18.
The Texas gun groups say this change would “present a moral dilemma for parents who want their responsible almost-adult-child to have access to a firearm for home protection,” according to a joint press release. The groups cite an incident in California in which a teenager girl was attacked and murdered.
“Jessica was a trained shooter, but California safe storage laws prevented her from accessing her firearm. This is just one example out of many and is not something we want to see in Texas,” the groups say.
‘Red-flag’ legislation proposed by Abbott has also drawn fire. A red-flag law would allow police to disarm individuals determined to be mentally unstable. Empower Texans, a conservative group chaired and bankrolled by Midland oilman Tim Dunn, belittles this proposed legislation as a “gun confiscation bill.”
Brandon Waltens of Empower Texans says Texas House Speaker Joe Straus should not have tasked a Texas Democrat with preparing legislation on this issue, Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, whom he calls “a fierce opponent to gun rights.” Writing on the organization’s website, Waltens says that the task should have been given instead to State Rep. John Smithee, a Republican who chairs the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee.
Moody was given the assignment because he heads the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee.
Open Carry Texas and the other gun groups share Empower Texas’ concern over ‘red-flag’ legislation, saying that such laws “allow a vengeful relative to threaten an individual’s gun ownership based on nothing more than a personal opinion that they’re unfit to own guns.”
“That person could then be taken to court — without any probable cause that they’ve broken a law and without being able to defend themselves prior to having their rights stripped from them. Our justice system is supposed to prosecute and punish people who have broken an actual law — not those who are ‘likely’ to commit a crime in the future,” the groups write in response to Abbott’s proposal.
“Wading into predictive judicial action is detrimental to a free society.”
Abbott’s plan, created in the wake of a deadly school shooting outside Houston, also calls for mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns, but the gun groups oppose this too: “Texans have consistently opposed creating any type of gun registry for legitimate reasons, chief of which is that it is not a government agency’s business knowing what firearms we own or have owned.”
The governor himself defends his plan as consistent with 2nd Amendment rights. “I doubt there has been a Texas governor with a more pro-gun record than myself,” he said upon release of his school safety plan last month. “I can assure you, I will never allow Second Amendment rights to be infringed. But I will always promote responsible gun ownership, and that includes keeping guns safe and keeping them out of the hands of criminals.”
Several Texas media last week carried opinion articles by Abbott ally Jerry Patterson, the former commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, who defended the governor’s plan. “I’m confident the governor’s plan will protect lawful gun ownership and respect the 2nd Amendment. It will not create a new mandatory storage law. It will not change any law that allows for self-defense, including the castle doctrine,” Patterson wrote.
He added, “It will not change or undermine any law or constitutional provision that protects the right to bear arms for any lawful purpose. It will provide for due process, and protect our constitutional rights, particularly those enumerated in the 2nd, 4th, and 5th amendments to the federal constitution and the comparable provisions in the Texas Constitution’s Bill of Rights.”
The Texas State Rifle Association, affiliated with the influential National Rifle Association, has not yet announced a position on Abbott’s gun proposals. Gun ownership in Texas is widespread: 1.2 million people are licensed to carry handguns, according to Department of Public Safety data.
On the other side of the debate, Texas Gun Sense says it supports the gun restrictions proposed by Abbott. “We are very supportive of the measures proposed in the governor’s plan in terms of tackling gun safety,” said Ed Scruggs, vice chair of Texas Gun Sense in testimony to lawmakers yesterday, while also noting that he opposes elements of the plan that would introduce more armed security in schools.
House Democrats likewise have voiced support for the measures saying they are similar or identical to bills introduced by Democrats in the House in recent years that were rejected by the majority Republican chamber.
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