Open carry bill derailed by objections from police
But a bill allowing concealed guns on campuses survives.
Inches from the fifinish line, a bill allowing for openly carried handguns was derailed Wednesday by law enforcement objections to language limiting the ability of police to stop and question those with a gun.
Meantime, another high-profile gun bill was saved from impending doom when House Democrats halted delaying tactics late Tuesday, al - lowing a vote on legislation allowing conce aled firearms to be carried into univers ity dorms, classrooms and other college buildings.
With only 20 minutes remaining before a drop-dead midnight Tuesday deadline would have killed the campus carry bill, Democrats volun-
tarily pulled down more than 100 pending amendments, saying they had won enough concessions to allow a vote while acknowledging that Republicans were poised to force a vote anyway.
It was a whirlwind two days on legislation considered top priorities by gun rights advocates.
On Wednesday, House members had a chance to send House Bill 910, which would allow those with a concealed handgun license to openly carry a holstered firearm, to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.
But instead of agreeing to a request to approve changes made by the Senate — appeals that are typically granted without discussion — the House launched into an intense debate over an amendment that bars police from stopping somebody with an openly displayed handgun solely to check for a concealed handgun license.
Two former police officers who support open carry — Reps. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress — urged their colleagues to vote against concurring with the changes, sending HB 910 to a conference committee to work on the no-stop amendment.
“I honestly believe that the unintentional result of the amendment, which I think we can fix, is to make it very difficult for police officers to do their job,” King said.
Several open carry supporters feared sending the bill into conference committee was a backdoor way of killing it as the session enters its final days.
“There’s absolutely no reason to put this bill in jeopardy,” said Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, who said with or without the amendment, police aren’t allowed to stop people who aren’t breaking the law.
The amendment was first added in the House by Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, who said he feared that mi- nority gun owners would be more likely to be detained by police. Added late at night, the amendment wasn’t explained, received less than 30 seconds of consideration and passed overwhelmingly.
It was later removed by a Senate committee, only to be reinstated late last week after a long debate on the Senate floor that saw tea party Republicans, who don’t want police interfering with gun owners, in alignment with minority Democrats, who fear racial profiling by police.
In other action Wednesday, the House gave final approval to the campus carry measure, Senate Bill 11, on a 102-44 vote that was taken with little fanfare — a far cry from the frantic activity the night before when Democrats scrambled to delay a vote until midnight.
Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, said Democrats ended their delays after winning a key concession with an approved amendment allowing colleges and universities to have limited authority to ban guns in certain cam- pus areas.
He also suggested that a second amendment, removing language that would have allowed private universities to opt out of campus carry, could raise howls of protests from influential institutions, perhaps endangering SB 11.
The campus carry bill will return to the Senate, where Republicans can be expected to take a dim view of changes made by the House.
Senate Republicans had defeated similar amendments during recent debate, and conservative House Republicans expressed dismay at the changes.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, called it “a watered down useless campus carry bill” on Twitter and lamented that “it’s both sad and infuriating to watch ‘Republican’ House leadership stumble around and kill the campus carry and pro-life bills.”
Among about 30 bills that died Tuesday was Senate Bill 575, which would have prohibited standard private and public health plans from covering abortion procedures except in life-threatening cases.
Martinez Fischer bristled at a question suggesting that Democrats appeared to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, saying a number of rules would have allowed Republicans to force a vote.
“I think you have to recognize that with 98 Republicans, if Republicans wanted to celebrate Christmas in April, they have the votes. I think we have to be very realistic about our strategies and our tactics, and recognize that while we may think we’re in control, 98 votes in one party’s favor is certainly an advantage around here,” he said.
In addition, Martinez Fischer said, Republicans were prepared to employ a rarely used maneuver to cut off debate with a motion that had already lined up agreement from the required 25 House members.