While private universities have been allowed to refuse the new measure and open carry remains banned, public colleges will now allow for concealed handguns in the classroom.
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Supporters of the controversial measure say it can help prevent mass shootings, while critics claim it could endanger safety on school campuses.
“Compelling professors at a public university to allow, without any limitation or restriction, students to carry concealed guns in their classrooms chills their First Amendment rights to academic freedom”, the lawsuit read.
The law, the AP notes, takes effect on the 50th anniversary of the mass shooting at the University of Texas’ clock tower.
“We want people to understand that open carry is different from concealed carry and open carry is not approved on any campus in Texas”.
The legislation allowing for campus carry, known as Senate Bill 11 (SB11), was signed passed by a Republican majority Texas Legislature and then signed into law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas in 2015.
Although colleges and universities do have the authority to regulate the concealed carry of firearms on their campuses, that power is severely limited.
But the law has caused outrage amongst certain groups in Texas, with Texas college students planning to protest gun law with dildos!
Three UT Austin professors have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the law before classes begin later this month.
The law stipulates that anyone that had applied and possessed an approved handgun license in the state can enter the school with those guns when they are hidden. Most private Texas schools have opted out of the Texas Campus Carry Laws, and therefore prohibit guns on campus. “Some are unstable, and we don’t know who has a gun”, Courtney Dang, a third-year student at the University of Texas, told Reuters.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, also defended the move which he described as “constitutionally sound”.
New law has been approved in US’ Texas state that allows students to carry guns onto the campuses of public universities across the state.
The memory of this impromptu cavalry is used by gun rights advocates to argue that armed citizens are the best defense against mass shootings.
Whitman had killed his wife and mother before he headed to the tower, investigators said. The 50,000-student Austin campus has been a flashpoint of opposition to the law among faculty and students.
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The law only allows concealed carrying of guns by people who have a license to carry. But the new law expands that territory to campus buildings, including classrooms, offices, and dorms.
