Texas soon to become the 21st state to allow people to carry handguns in public without a license or training, after the Legislature gave the final approval on Monday.
We should have constitutional carry in Texas Governor Abbott said back in April. “This is something that 20 other states already have adopted, and it’s time for Texas to adopt it, too.”
The Senate approved permitless carry 17-13 vote on Monday afternoon along party lines. The House gave final signoff to the bill 82-62 vote late Sunday.
Its passage — in the face of strong opposition from law enforcement — delivers a major victory to conservatives and gun rights groups, whose past efforts to legalize permitless carry in Texas have sputtered out.
The Bill will allow people 21 and older to carry a handgun openly or concealed without a license, so long as they don’t have criminal histories that bar them from having a firearm.
The final version, hashed out by a conference committee behind closed doors, retains many changes the Senate sought to appease police groups and win over hesitant Republicans.
They include upping the penalties for felons caught illegally carrying a gun and creating a free, online gun-safety course. Another bars people from permitless carry for five years after they’ve been convicted of certain misdemeanors, including making terroristic threats, deadly conduct, assault that causes bodily injury, and disorderly conduct with a firearm.
Sen. Charles Schwertner, a Georgetown Republican who carried the bill through the Senate, said law-abiding citizens should be able to defend themselves without asking the government for a license.
“This bill to me is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the second amendment, a right of the people, to keep and bear arms,” he said.
As of now in Texas it’s legal to carry a long gun in public without a license. But people must be licensed by the state to carry a handgun outside their homes and vehicles.
The bill would nix this requirement for a license, but people could still get one if they choose.
More than 1.6 million Texans are licensed to carry handguns, up from about 400,000 a decade ago.
Once signed by Governor Abbott, The Law will go into effect September 1, 2021
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