Students, faculty and guests can now carry concealed handguns on public college facilities, classrooms and dormitories in the state of Texas, despite opposition from teachers concerned about how the new law will impact their ability to teach.
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Texas lawmakers have insisted that the starting date of the campus carry law occurring on the same day as the tragedy’s anniversary was a coincidence.
Texas’ campus carry law went into effect Monday for four-year state universities, but the controversial edict doesn’t affect two-year and community colleges until August 1, 2017.
(They do not apply to private universities in Texas which have overwhelmingly opted to ignore it and retain their bans on weapons.) However, he said the timing of its implementation had nothing to do with the 1966 anniversary and everything to do with the imminent start of the new academic year.
University of Texas at Austin President Greg Fenves and campus leaders addressed the implementation of campus carry, Monday morning.
As the ceremony takes place on Monday, the open carry of firearms on campus will be permitted for the first time.
“Those same legislators failed to listen to the survivors of the 1966 tower shooting who testified that there was mass chaos during the incident when other students rushed to their cars to claim their rifles and fire back”. The following year, a former student of Northern Illinois University walked into a classroom at the school, killing six people and wounding 21 more before taking his own life, NBC News added. Last month, three UT Austin professors sued the university and the state.
The other U.S. states allowing “campus carry” include Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin. But the law still prohibits a majority of students from carrying a gun on campus.
Texas is now the eighth state to permit those with concealed carry licenses to bring their handguns on university grounds, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“Guns do not have a place on campus”, John “Artly” Fox, a survivor of the University of Texas shooting, said.
UH Police Chief Ceaser Moore will be answering questions about at 10 a.m. about the “campus carry” law.
The same day the law takes effect, a memorial will be dedicated to the victims of the University of Texas clock tower shootings.
“We want students to be passionate about what they have to say… without worrying about whether someone’s going to pull a gun and shoot you”.
He also stresses that open-carry is still strictly prohibited throughout the university and that they do not expect campus-carry to produce many issues.
“I knew Tom was dead and so I thought, you know, I just thought and I knew the baby wasn’t moving anymore”, James recalled.
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University officials are still encouraging people to call police if they see someone with a gun, as the weapon is supposed to be concealed at all times.
