Lawmaker: Texas businesses that ban guns should be liable if unarmed patrons are hurt

AUSTIN—Texas businesses that ask customers to disarm themselves will have to pay for injuries incurred in these gun-free zones if Texas state Sen. Bob Hall has his way.

Hall, a Republican, wants to propose a law that will make gun-free businesses liable for “any harm that befalls patrons as a result of being deprived of his or her weapon.” The law, Hall says, would “encourage Texas businesses to do the right thing and allow their patrons to carry the firearms they have lawfully trained with for self-protection.”

“Currently, while these gun-free zone businesses possess the right to prevent legally licensed to carry permit holders from carrying a firearm while on their premise, there is no designation of responsibility to provide for the safety of their patrons during an active shooter situation,” Hall said in a Monday email. “That is about to change this coming legislative session.”

Hall’s proposed legislation is modeled on a bill considered earlier this year by the Tennessee Legislature. That bill originally proposed the same civil liability on businesses that ban guns. But later, before it was signed into law, the bill was completely gutted.

Now, the law protects businesses that allow guns from being sued for doing so, unless the business owner acts with “gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.” It is unclear why the bill was so drastically changed.

Under Texas law, those with a state-approved license can carry handguns openly or in a concealed fashion. Open carry of long arms like shotguns or AR-15s also is legal and does not require a license.

The law also currently allows private business owners to ban guns in their establishments by posting signage that designates the area as gun free. Hall’s proposal would threaten this right, by allowing gun license holders who are injured in gun-free business to sue their owners.

The issue of private property has been paramount in past discussions of Texas’ gun laws.

Last session, Republican state Sen. Brian Birdwell sponsored the legislation that led to concealed carry being expanded on college campuses. But Birdwell and other campus carry supporters insisted that the law apply only to public colleges and universities and not private ones, such as Southern Methodist University or Baylor.

“We should not simply concur with legislation that subordinates one constitutional right to another,” Birdwell said during the debate, when anti-campus carry Democrats in the Senate proposed forcing private universities to allow concealed carry on their campuses.

In announcing his proposal, Hall referenced the attack earlier this summer on a gay club in Orlando that left 49 dead. Guns are banned in nightclubs and bars in Texas, and it’s illegal for license holders to be drunk while carrying. A security guard at the Orlando nightclub engaged the attacker, but was unable to subdue him.

“Businesses that establish themselves as ‘gun-free’ provide a guaranteed path of least resistance for terrorists and psychopathic murderers by ensuring that all of the law-abiding patrons in their establishment,” Hall said, “including those licensed to carry a firearm, have surrendered their right of self-defense at the door.”