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Students in Texas can now take guns to public universities
Weapon display at gun show in Houston.—Photo by Joseph Earnest
by Joseph Earnest August 2, 2016
Newscast Media AUSTIN—Under a new law in Texas each public university will now have to allow concealed weapons. Private universities are exempt from the law.
The new "campus carry" law in Texas, which went into effect on Monday, is reportedly intended to prevent further mass shootings in the future - by letting students be armed and thus enabling them to defend themselves. Under the new law, which is backed by Republican lawmakers, guns will be allowed in more places at public universities; however, the institutions will get to choose where on campus they will be permitted. Private universities will not be impacted by the law.
The controversial decision came on the 50th anniversary of a deadly campus sniper rampage at the University of Texas at Austin (UT). A mass shooting there in 1966 had claimed 14 lives, when Marine-trained sniper Charles Whitman had randomly shot at passers-by from the university's iconic tower. The event was the first US mass shooting broadcast live on national TV news.
The local daily newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman said officials had told them that the date was just a coincidence, and that the main motivation was to have the law enacted before the start of the next semester. The law comes only two days after a gunman had killed one person and injured three others on the streets of Austin.
Texas became the eighth US state to allow guns on university campuses, joining seven other states which allow concealed guns on campuses, including Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin. Eighteen states, however, specifically ban the practice. Add Comments>>
Source: Deutsche Welle
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