Chancellors from the six public university systems across the state met with members of the Texas Senate Tuesday morning to clear up any confusion on the new campus carry law that goes into effect August 1.
The Senate Committee on State Affairs invited activists and the state’s university chancellors to testify during the hearing, hoping to tackle the state’s controversial new “campus carry” law.
The new law, passed by lawmakers during the last legislative session, allows licensed holders to carry concealed handguns inside classrooms on public college campuses across the state.
“This is controversial, there’s no doubt about it,” Texas Tech University Chancellor Robert Duncan said. “This is an issue about which there are strong emotions, but so far it’s been an interesting discussion on all of the campuses.”
Texas Tech, along with many other universities across the state, formed task forces to figure out how they are going to implement the law. However Duncan, who testified during Tuesday’s hearing, said coming up with a plan hasn’t been easy due to the new laws mixed feedback.
“Certainly there are concerns that are being raised, and the universities—given the flexibility that the legislature has allowed—I think have a challenge to make sure that they balance the concerns with the requirements of the law,” Duncan said. “Right now, we are all going through that.”
Duncan said the chancellors meet regularly to discuss and try to understand where each other is going. Right now, the chancellors said they hope to have their implementation plan completed by this summer.
“These bills were passed and there was not a lot of clarity in the law,” Andrea Brauer, Executive Director of Texas Gun Sense said. “There is a lot of confusion that exists today among the average citizen.”
Brauer also testified on Tuesday, hoping to bring some of the concerns and confusion of the new law to the forefront.
“It’s problematic with such a big change in our law,” Brauer said. “I think it is time to start talking about public safety and things we can do to strengthen the law in addition to protecting the second amendment and protecting people’s rights to bear arms.”
Under the new law, public colleges and universities are allowed to designate “gun-free zones” on campus.
