Texas official: Permitless gun carry lacks State Senate support
Nicole Cobler
AUSTIN, Texas — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Monday said a bill that would let people carry handguns in public without a license does not have the votes to pass in the GOP-controlled Senate, just days after the measure received House approval.
Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Senate, has not had an appetite for the bill in previous sessions, although he said Monday that he would meet with representatives of law enforcement groups that oppose no-permit carry and groups such as the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America that support it.
“If we have the votes to pass a permitless carry bill off the Senate floor, I will move it,” Patrick said in a statement. “At this point we don’t have the votes on the floor to pass it.”
It’s not clear which senators do not support the measure, but the Senate has yet to pass a bill out of committee that would repeal the state’s license to carry law.
Last week, the Texas House voted 87-58, largely along party lines, to approve the measure. House Speaker Dade Phelan, RBeaumont, has long been a supporter of the idea.
Meanwhile, the House continued to show an appetite Monday for expanding gun access, amid a spate of gun violence in Texas. Two people were killed and three others were injured in an early Monday morning shooting in Houston, according to police. In Austin, a former Travis County sheriff’s deputy was accused of fatally shooting three people Sunday, including two teenagers.
The House gave initial approval 88-55, voting largely along party lines, to allow election judges to carry guns at certain polling sites as long as they have a license to carry. It’s not clear how the bill would square with permitless carry, if passed.
Frisco Republican Rep. Jared Patterson wrote House Bill 530, which would allow election judges and presiding judges with a handgun license to carry their firearm during early voting or on Election Day.
“If another city did have a prohibition on saying firearms can’t be brought into a library or civic center, whatever the location is, then this bill would not supersede that local discretion?” Rep. Chris Turner, DHouse, asked.
“I assume not,” Patterson responded.
Local officials who ban guns in city-owned sites could continue to prohibit election judges from carrying a gun, Patterson said. The bill also would not change federal requirements that prohibit guns in schools.
Election judges in Texas are partisan and not actual judges. They run polling sites and respond to disputes about election law. A polling site’s presiding judge and alternate presiding judge must be affiliated with different political parties under Texas law.
Critics of the measure say it could lead to voter intimidation and interfere with peace officers’ ability to do their jobs at a polling location. Law enforcement officers already may carry guns at polling sites.