Texas Lawmakers Pass a Bill Allowing Guns at Colleges

The campus of the University of Texas at Austin, where the new gun law would take effect next year. Credit Ilana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times


HOUSTON — Students and faculty members at public and private universities in Texas could be allowed to carry concealed handguns into classrooms, dormitories and other buildings under a bill passed over the weekend by the Republican-dominated Legislature. The measure is being hailed as a victory by gun rights advocates and criticized by many students and professors as irresponsible and unnecessary.

The so-called campus-carry bill is expected to be signed into law by the Republican governor, Greg Abbott. It would take effect in August 2016 at universities and August 2017 at community colleges.

Supporters say it will make college campuses safer by not preventing licensed gun owners from defending themselves and possibly saving lives should a mass shooting occur, such as the one that unfolded at Virginia Tech University in 2007.

Opponents say the notion that armed students would make a campus safer is an illusion that will have a chilling effect on campus life. Professors said they worry about inviting a student into their offices to talk about a failing grade if they think that student is armed. And Democratic lawmakers and some university leaders worry about increased security costs and the bill’s effect on recruiting potential teachers and students from other states.

“The perception in academia will be that Texas is a free-fire zone with yokels in the classrooms packing heat,” said Lynn W. Tatum, a professor at Baylor University in Waco and the former president of the Texas conference of the American Association of University Professors.

Texas will be one of eight states to allow the carrying of concealed weapons on public college campuses, joining Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nineteen others ban concealed weapons on campus, including California, Florida and New York, and 23 others, including Alabama and Arizona, leave the decision to the colleges or state board of regents.

The bill that passed in Texas was something of a compromise that allows private universities to opt out and public ones to designate parts of their campuses as gun-free zones. But coming at a time when legislatures have allowed guns at places from bars to houses of worship, it reflects the seemingly limitless legislative clout of gun interests, particularly in Republican-dominated states.
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One of the most prominent opponents of the campus-carry bill was an unlikely figure — a former member of the Navy SEALs. Adm. William H. McRaven, the former commander of United States Special Operations forces who directed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is now the chancellor of the 15-campus University of Texas System.
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Adm. William H. McRaven, the chancellor of the University of Texas System, is an opponent of the campus-carry bill. Credit Marsha Miller/The University of Texas at Austin , via Associated Press

“I’m a guy that loves my guns,” Admiral McRaven said. “I have all sorts of guns. I just don’t think bringing guns on campus is going to make us any safer. If you’ve ever been shot at, which I have, then you have an appreciation for what a gun can do.”

In addition to the campus-carry bill, Republican lawmakers also approved an open-carry bill, which gives those licensed to have a concealed weapon the option of carrying it openly in a holster, although open carry will not be allowed on a college campus. The debate over both bills made gun rights a dominant issue of the legislative session.


One of the bill’s chief architects was Senator Brian Birdwell, a Republican and a retired Army lieutenant colonel wounded in the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. Those backing it included local and national gun rights groups, including Students for Concealed Carry and the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association; Tea Party activists; and Sheriff Parnell McNamara of McLennan County, which includes Waco. Other law enforcement officials testified against the bill, including Adrian Garcia, who at the time was the sheriff of Harris County, which includes Houston.

Supporters said that because Texans licensed to have concealed firearms must be 21 years or older, the number of the state’s 850,000 license holders who will ultimately carry on campus will be small, and will most likely be older community college students more interested in protecting themselves as they walk to their cars at night on campus than in carrying their weapons to a fraternity party.

“An armed society is a safe society, so any time you have gun control, there is far more opportunity to become victims,” said State Representative Jonathan Stickland, a Republican and Tea Party favorite who often does his legislative work at the Capitol wearing his concealed .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol. “The criminals aren’t going to obey the laws. It’s the responsible folks who we should be encouraging to protect themselves in the community they live in.”

At the University of Texas at Austin, interviews with more than a dozen students Tuesday found little support for campus carry. The university was the scene of the nation’s first campus mass shooting on Aug. 1, 1966, when a sniper, Charles Whitman, fired at people from the school’s clock tower in a day of violence that left 16 people dead. The campus-carry law will take effect there Aug. 1, 2016, exactly 50 years later.

“I don’t think guns should be allowed, because that’s pretty scary,” said Sarah Wang, 18, a computer science major and sophomore who stood near the tower. “We’ve already seen so many instances where people get hurt because there are guns in schools.”

In some ways, the legislative battle over the bill was symbolic. For years, Texans who were licensed by the state to carry a concealed firearm had never been prohibited under the law from walking on or through the grounds of most college campuses with their weapon. The bill gives those licensed to carry a concealed firearm the right to have their firearms while they are inside buildings and clarifies that they can be armed while on campus, although several caveats pushed by Democratic lawmakers will dampen the impact of the legislation.

The bill gives private and independent colleges the option of opting out entirely. Public colleges have no such option, but lawmakers allowed university presidents at public institutions to come up with concealed-weapons regulations that could let them establish gun-free zones on their campuses. The bill says university officials can establish “reasonable rules,” but states those regulations cannot “generally prohibit” license holders from carrying concealed handguns on campus.

“While the passage of campus carry is disappointing, the legislation is better than it could have been in that we will be able to exercise some local control,” said Neal J. Smatresk, president of the University of North Texas, a public institution in Denton. “We need to review the legislation thoroughly to ensure that we understand our latitude in controlling concealed carry on campus.”

The Texas version of campus carry is more watered down than the laws passed by other states. In Utah, the presidents of the public colleges have no discretion to write concealed-handgun rules. At Southern Utah University in Cedar City, students and faculty can have concealed weapon just about anywhere on campus — in classrooms, dormitory buildings and at sporting events.

“It’s never been an issue,” said Rick Brown, the university’s chief of police.

The only episode he could recall was the day a few years ago when a teacher found a loaded clip in a classroom after class was dismissed and notified the campus police. Mr. Brown said the clip apparently fell out of a student’s backpack during class.

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