Voices for Gun Law Changes Quiet in Texas
Texas laws get low marks from gun control groups, but even in the wake of recent high-profile shootings in Texas and two other states, there is little call to restrict access to guns here.
Part of the reason for the relative silence, say gun rights advocates, is that their counterparts who want more restrictions have had little presence in the state recently.
“They pretty much left about 15 years ago here in Texas,” said Jerry Patterson, the state land commissioner. Patterson, who was influential in passing the state’s concealed handgun law as a state senator in 1995, said that ...
Comments (11)
Jerry Patterson
Well written story but when you (accurately) state that Texas doesn't require gun dealers to be licensed, you should have added that all gun dealars in the U.S. are required to have a federal firearms license, therefore a state license is not needed. I know of no state that requires gun dealers to have a state license, altho perhaps CA or IL might.
Jerry Patterson
donald baker
I will continue to vote against any politician who supports any repressive anti gun legislation based on that issue alone
Luisa Inez Newton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
also, there are very few genuine Christians in Texas. if there were, guns would not be such an obsession because Jesus loathed violence & loved his neighbors.
Sharon Richard via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Texas is rapidly becoming a one-party state. The implications of that fill me with unease.
Sidney Lambert III via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It seems to be a Washington party, not a Texas party. The implications of that fill me with unease.- Old Texas Federalist
Samdavis
According to numerous surveys the majority of gun owners favor restrictions on things like high-capacity magazines and favor more stringent background checks and ownership requirements. Unfortunately groups like the NRA and GOA have organized so well they drown out all the responsible gun owners who embrace change. It's an indictment of the Texas culture as well as other redneck states that guns are so readily available and that legislators are too scared or too ignorant to address the problem.
Michelle Michon via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Texas is in fact, Pink. NOT the deep red the GOP would have you believe. The shootings are a lack of mental health issue, not a gun issue.
Aldo Merino via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Shootings are inherently a gun issue. To say otherwise is absurd.
Of course, some form of mental health screenings (as Japan does) would help prevent some of these incidents, but that's a delicate issue that requires real discussion to balance rights and safety concerns, and Texas itself is do astronomically far from even having a serious discussion on any issue of substance as to make it impossible.
Incidents like these are the price we pay for unadulterated access to guns, and it's one Texas seems fine, policy wise, with paying.
Lori Trammell via Texas Tribune on Facebook
...every time there is a shooting....there are always those misguided souls who want to take guns away from people who didn't do it....sad.
Jerry Patterson
If this was exclusivlely a gun issue as Mr Merino asserts then gun violence would always be greater where there are more guns. Texas has a lot of guns and is the #26 state for firearms fatalities per 100,000 population. In first place is the District of Columbia where it is nearly impossible to own a gun. Utah, has the highest per capita rate of gun owner ship and one of the lowest rates of gun violence. Mexico has a virtual prohibition on private ownership of guns and tremendous gun violence which can't be blamed on the easily availability of guns thru Texas. If that were true Texas would have more gun violence than Mexico. People shoot people, guns don't.
Lovablelabby 2012
If readers and the Texas Tribune truly cared about gun violence, they would demand full disclosure of how 5000 assault rifles were walked across the border and used used to murder over 20,000 Mexican citizens.
This is a human rights issue, not a political issue, but in this election year political hypocrites don't care about murdered Mexican citizens, only about hiding the truth and holding on to power. If they were your relatives you would feel betrayed. What is executive privilege hiding?
Everything today is politicized. Who will speak up for you when the time comes.