One year after state psychiatric hospitals began letting people carry guns on campus, a Republican legislator is pushing a bill that reverses course.

House Bill 14, filed by Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, outlaws firearms at Texas’ 10 state-run mental health hospitals, which care for people with depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other illnesses.

"No one wants a gun to fall into the hands of a mentally ill patient who could pose a danger to himself or herself, fellow patients, visitors or staff," Murr said.

For decades, the Department of State Health Services had banned guns at the psychiatric hospitals. No one — visitors, delivery people and such — could bring firearms anywhere on hospital property. Even local law enforcement officers, who were permitted to bring their weapons into the facilities, regularly locked up their guns before entering hospitals out of an abundance of caution.

But in 2015, a new law created penalties for local government entities that posted "no guns" signs on public buildings without specific authority to do so. That law forced the Department of State Health Services, which runs the hospitals, to review their own policies and officials realized that they could not legally mandate gun-free campuses.

A long-standing law prohibits firearms in state-licensed general and specialty hospitals. But the prohibition doesn’t include the 10 psychiatric hospitals because they aren’t licensed by the state.

So in January 2016, the hospitals had to start letting guns on campus.

Murr’s bill — which he says has the support of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Joe Straus — would let hospitals return to their gun-free policy days.

"Texas has historically restricted weapons in these facilities, and this bill would remedy an unintended consequence of a bill passed two years ago," he said.

Murr said he worked on the legislation with the National Rifle Association and the Texas State Rifle Association. The law would mandate violators be fined $100 for their first offense and $500 for a second.

"In some cases, these individuals have been accused of serious and heinous crimes," said Murr, whose district includes Kerrville State Hospital. "We should ensure that we continue to practice the policies previously used by state mental health hospitals to properly safeguard and protect their employees, visitors and patients."