Houston Zoo OKs firearms as advocates test other cities

DALLAS — Visitors to the Houston Zoo can now pack a little something extra besides a camera and picnic basket.

The nearly century-old institution recently lifted its longtime firearms ban amid a broader push by gun-rights advocates who are pressuring zoos in Texas and elsewhere to do the same.

That ban’s lifting came as California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Saturday making it against the law for concealed-carry permit holders to bring handguns onto school campuses.

Gun-rights supporters say publicly owned zoos have misinterpreted laws and are illegally posting signs that ban firearms. Some zoos have countered calls for policy changes by claiming they are considered amusement parks, day cares or educational institutions.

An advocacy group in Texas is singling out zoos under a newly enacted state law allowing complaints about unlawful gun restrictions to be forwarded to the state’s attorney general for potential steep fines. Similar efforts have occurred elsewhere, including in Missouri where the St. Louis Zoo went to court to prevent an Ohio man from bringing a gun to the zoo to test its no-weapons policy.

“I am not anti-zoo,” said Edwin Walker with Texas Law Shield, the group that recently filed complaints against the Houston and Dallas zoos. “I guarantee there’s not going to be a license-holder that’s going to go to the zoo and shoot a baby giraffe in front of schoolchildren.”

Gun-control advocates say a series of mass shootings proves the need for tighter regulations on purchasing and carrying weapons. But many gun enthusiasts argue just the opposite, saying citizens should have the right to carry firearms in public places to defend themselves from potential attackers.

Many zoos across the country — from Milwaukee to Omaha, Neb. — do not allow guns. But laws vary by state. In Kentucky, for instance, a 2012 law revision permits people to openly carry firearms into facilities owned by municipalities, such as libraries, parks and zoos.

The Houston Zoo has already felt backlash after the city ordered it Sept. 10 to take down its no-gun signs because it operates on public land. Parents and children gathered last month to greet zoo visitors with warnings about the policy change.

“There are places in our public lives where guns are inappropriate,” Stephanie Lundy, a mother attending the protest, told KHOU-TV. “And the zoo is one of those places.”

Texas authorizes licensed gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public, but the law exempts a variety of places, and officials at the state’s larger zoos cite some of those exemptions in arguing that firearms are not permitted.