if the american approach to gun regulation seems crazy to most of the rest of the world, surely the texas approach to gun regulation seems crazy to most of the rest of the states.
i’ve long maintained that we live in an ironic universe in which local irony tends to a maximum. we texans experienced that tendency yesterday when gun laws effecting many different areas of regulations went into effect which loosened a multitude of restrictions.all of this one day after a mass shooting in texas.
–texans are now permitted to firearms or ammunition in a locked car on a school parking lot provided they are not in plain view.
–texans holding a concealed carry permit are now permitted to carry loaded handguns into places of worship. fyi, getting a concealed carry permit in texas requires minimal training and is relatively inexpensive: $140 for the initial permit and $70 for renewals. It does require a criminal background check.
–most texans who are actively caring for foster children are now permitted to store firearms and ammunition in their homes so long as the weapons and ammo are kept in some type of locked area.
–texas school districts have now been given greater latitude both in being able to appoint armed marshals in schools as well as how many they can appoint.
–texas residents may no longer be charged with a crime for carrying a handgun if they are evacuating from a state or local disaster area.
–texas landlords of rental properties are no longer allowed to prohibit firearms and ammunition from being kept in their property.
How does that work with the peace religions (Quakers, Mennonites, etc)? I can’t imagine that they would be happy about people wandering around their churches and meeting houses with guns.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong about this, but I don’t think the new laws require places of worship to allow firearms on what is private property. Only that they now can allow it.
Here’s the law:
“Senate Bill 535 amends the Penal Code to remove the premises of a church, synagogue, or other established place of religious worship from the premises on which the intentional, knowing, or reckless carrying of a handgun by a license holder constitutes an offense.”
It was pointed put on MSNBC today that if it were true that more guns = more safe, Texas should be the safest state in the union. Current evidence suggest not so much. Of course, facts are not known to impact these quasi-religious obsessives in the least. They have got to vote the assholes out of office. We all (USians) need to look at our represtatives instate, local and national government and get them out of office. If your love of your firearms exceeds your love of your neighbors, hell, of your children, you have no business claiming to represent the interests of any-fucking-one.
i don’t know. another law which came into force yesterday requires property owners with rental properties to allow tenants in those properties to have firearms and ammunition. i know that republicans are very big on the inviolability of private property rights when the epa or osha is trying to regulate uses of private property but, apparently, not so much when it comes to firearms.
State universities in Texas have been required to allow guns on campus for several years. Implementation varies a bit from campus to campus, but at UT this means: a faculty member can’t disallow guns from their classroom. They can do it from their office provided (a) they don’t share their office, (b) they give proper notification, and (c ) “if the occupant’s duties ordinarily entail meeting people who may be license holders, the occupant will make reasonable arrangements to meet them in another location” (ie, they can’t both preclude guns from their office and hold office hours there). “Proper notification” means that if they make an announcement on the first day of class, and a gun-carrier ditches that class, proper notice hasn’t been given to that person and you can’t exclude them.
