Constitutional Carry In Texas Getting Closer To Becoming Law
Constitutional Carry, also known as permitless carry, is one step closer to becoming law in Texas. On Friday, it was announced that a deal was in place between the House and Senate but no details had come out.
Before midnight on Sunday, the Texas House voted to approve the deal on Constitutional Carry in a 82-62 vote. The Senate will reportedly voted on the bill soon. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has previously said that he would sign Constitutional Carry into law if the bill made it to his desk.
The compromise made in conference between House and Senate members was to keep the amendments made by the Senate according to the Texas Tribune.
It keeps intact a number of changes that the Senate made to the House bill to assuage concerns from the law enforcement community, including striking a provision that would have barred cops from questioning someone based only on their possession of a handgun. The compromise version also preserves a Senate amendment beefing up the criminal penalty for a felon caught carrying to a second-degree felony with a minimum of five years in prison. Other Senate changes that survived was a requirement that the Texas Department of Public Safety offer a free online course on gun safety.
If signed by the Governor, this legislation would allow adults in Texas aged 21 and over, who are allowed to poses a gun, to carry it without having a license. License to Carry would still be available in Texas. The legislation has been a priority for Republicans and gun rights advocates for years.
Texas will join 20 other states with some form of Constitutional Carry.
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