AUSTIN — Texas' 10 state psychiatric hospitals may soon be allowed to return to their longstanding practice of banning guns on hospital property, thanks in large part to a bill from Rep. Andrew Murr that is scheduled for a committee hearing Tuesday.

"If historical practice has been to restrict weapons in a state hospital, then common sense would dictate that we should ensure they have that ability," Murr said in an interview last week. "I don't wait it to be a sensational topic. We treat it very seriously. It went to the public health committee, it did not go to homeland security. It's a mental health bill."

He said the measure would address an "inadvertent omission" in a law passed last year that beefed up enforcement of laws that allow people with gun licenses to carry weapons on state or local government property. The 2015 law allowed Texas to impose a fine on governmental entities that didn't allow guns to be carried on their property.

The law compelled the state's psychiatric hospitals last January to pull down signs that prohibited guns and start permitting people to bring handguns onto hospital property, even though health officials insisted the psychiatric hospitals could previously ban guns. The hospitals posted new signs that asked visitors to voluntarily leave guns in their vehicles.

"Before serving in the House, I served as a judge, so I participated in the process where folks with mental health issues are sent to a state hospital," Murr said. "I want them to be just as safe and secure as their families that visit them, and if this is a tool they need to do that, then this approach to making sure we give serious consideration to mental health, that works."

The House Public Health Committee will hear public testimony on the bill Tuesday, but there will likely be few opponents to the measure. Advocates from both pro- and anti-gun camps support the bill — with some caveats.

Alice Tripp of the Texas State Rifle Association said she worries the bill could leave the door open for amendments allowing other state entities to post signs banning guns.

Amanda Johnson with the Moms Demand Action organization said the group supports the idea behind the bill but is concerned its language could complicate other laws about the signs.

Murr said he doesn't see the bill changing significantly as it moves through the Legislature. It has support from Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus.

"I believe its narrowly tailored scope will limit folks who want to try to change gun laws in other ways," Murr said. "But, it is a valid concern."

Murr's bill lists all 10 of the state's psychiatric hospitals by name and says each facility is allowed, but not required, to prohibit guns. Employees and patients are prohibited from bringing firearms into state hospitals.

Carrie Williams, spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Commission, said the state will "follow the will of the Legislature" when it comes to deciding whether to prohibit guns.

"Our focus is always squarely on patient safety and whether a situation could harm or help a patient's treatment," Williams wrote in an email. "We've been asking visitors to leave firearms in their cars and away from patients, and this has gone well since the laws changed."

Murr said the bill is aimed at protecting the safety of patients and employees, but it also considers the history of patients housed at these facilities.

"We want to make sure that they have all the tools they need to keep patients, employees and visitors safe and secure," Murr said. "Some of these people are considered to be highly dangerous and have been charged with egregious crimes."

Across these hospitals, 58 percent of the beds are "forensic," meaning they are reserved for people who have been accused or convicted of a crime but are deemed mentally unfit, Williams said.

Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, said he isn't sure Murr's bill is necessary. The way he sees it, psychiatric hospitals are allowed to prohibit guns because last year's law regulated only sign postings, not hospital rules.

"If there's a secured area of a mental hospital and the only security is the posting of a sign that can be ignored? That's not a very high level of security, and it should be re-evaluated," he said. "There's nobody that thinks people at psychiatric wards should be able to have guns in their possession, and I think current law does not allow them to do that."

Gun-related incidents

Williams said there have been three "gun-related incidents" since the psychiatric hospitals were forced to permit guns.

In June 2016, a patient at Rusk State Hospital in East Texas found a gun in a patient area and promptly alerted hospital staff who secured the gun "without harm or incident." It turned out the gun belonged to a hospital employee, who was later terminated.

The same month, a patient at North Texas State Hospital tried to go through admissions with a gun in her waistband, but she was forced to turn it over to security staff, again "without incident."

Earlier in 2016, a visitor trying to enter Terrell State Hospital openly carrying a handgun. Hospital staff asked the visitor to return the weapon to his car, "which he readily agreed to do without issue."