AUSTIN — Texas mayors cannot prohibit the concealed carry of handguns in city halls and other government buildings even if they contain security-sensitive areas such as courtrooms, according to Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott, the former attorney general, last month told his successor Ken Paxton that under a new law that went into effect Sept. 1, city, county and agency leaders must allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into government buildings. Under the new law, state and local governments only can ban concealed guns in buildings that fall into a narrow “gun-free” category, including courthouses, polling places, hospitals, public schools, airports and racetracks. Austin Mayor Steve Adler has interpreted that to mean he can ban guns in all of City Hall because the building hosts court proceedings…. “You don’t allow concealed guns in courthouses, and city hall hosts a downtown community court once a month,” Adler communications manager Jason Stanford said Monday. “You can’t have guns here unless you’re a cop.”…. Abbott disagrees. Concealed carry should only be banned from the area of city hall that hosts the community court, he said in his memo, and only when the proceedings are actually happening.
You might be wondering what sort of insane, bat-shit crazy place would allow concealed handguns inside most government buildings? I mean, what could possibly go wrong…right?? Then again, this is Texas we’re talking about, where the 2nd Amendment overrules everything, including common sense and public safety, and Guns über Alles might as well be the official state motto.
This is the sort of inhuman, piss-poor public policy that becomes the norm when the National Rifle Association (NRA) owns the Texas Legislature. They’re just getting what they’re paying for…and if innocent lives are lost along the way, well, that’s just a cost of doing business.
I can’t help but wonder at what point Texans will demand that common sense and not the tender sensibilities of Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © will determine security policies in government buildings? What part of “county and agency leaders must allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into government buildings” fails to set off alarm bells for any rational person who values their personal safety?
It seems as if Texas is now so thoroughly beholden to Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © that state government caters to their every whim and demand…even if it puts the lives and well-being of innocent men, women, and children at risk. That the Texas Legislature lacks the moral courage to stand up for Texans, and is instead willing to place the lives and safety of innocents at risk simply to mollify deluded, self-important Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes © is unconscionable. It’s difficult not to wonder how many will have to die before Texas lawmakers will wake up and smell the cat litter?
Even worse, that Texans are willing to elect moral midgets and ideologues who would pass such legislation makes them complicit in turning public buildings into virtual free-fire zones. Perhaps when enough innocent people are slaughtered in city halls or other public buildings Texans will begin to demand that security regulations be based on common sense and not the tender sensibilities of Proudly Closed-minded Gun Control Foes ©
