AUSTIN — Michael Guzman, a 25-year-old Texas State University senior and Marine veteran, takes his Kimber Ultra Carry II handgun just about everywhere he goes. Except to school.
Texas lawmakers, how ever, are crafting ways to allow licensed handgun owners to tote their guns more easily. One proposal would let guns be carried on campuses, and another would allow licensed handgun owners to openly brandish their guns in public.
Together, the two issues are likely to be the most contentious gun-related laws of the session.
State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, is preparing the campus concealed-carry gun measure. He calls it a “safety protection bill” for students and faculty.“I don’t want to wake up one morning and hear on the news that some madman went on a Texas campus and picked off Texas students like sitting ducks,” Wentworth said. “I’m doing what I can to prevent that from happening in Texas.”
A national debate over guns on college campuses was sparked almost two years ago after the fatal shootings of 32 students at Virginia Tech. [during which the shooter casually reloaded his weapons safe in the knowledge he was the only person there armed.]
Since then, 17 states have introduced legislation to let students and faculty pack heat on campus.
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