Today: House Votes for Guns on Campus Compromise; Senate Approved yesterday
AUSTIN, Texas –Following passage of a modified version of SB 11 by both chambers of the Texas legislature, the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America released the following statement on the bill, which allows concealed carry of handguns on college campuses, subject to reasonable regulation by college presidents to ensure campus safety. The bill heads next to the governor’s desk.
Statement From Sandy Chasse, University Language Instructor, Gun Owner, and Volunteer with the Texas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America:
“We are pleased that the final version of SB 11 contains provisions granting universities broad discretion to keep their communities safe by deciding where and when it is appropriate to allow guns on campus. This compromise respects the wishes of the vast majority of university stakeholders. This session advocates from all corners of the state made thousands of calls, sent countless emails, wrote letters and testified in opposition to forcing guns on campus and although the final version of SB 11 doesn’t give universities full authority over campus safety, this is a drastic improvement on the bad policies our lawmakers were considering just days ago.
As of today, the gun lobby is no longer the sole dictator of gun policy in Texas. We thank the lawmakers this session who finally woke up to the fact that those who seek commonsense gun policies will not back down in the face of uncivil and unsafe laws.
Texas moms know this is a marathon—not a sprint—we look forward to continuing to work with our community and campus administrators, law enforcement and other Texans to keep our communities and campuses safe.”