Senator declares campus carry bill 'dead'

AUSTIN — Senators on either side of the aisle labeled an embattled campus carry bill dead Wednesday. The bill would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry firearms in college classrooms and buildings.

Houston Democrat John Whitmire, the longest serving member of the upper-chamber, downplayed the chances of Senate Bill 182 being considered in the Criminal Justice Committee, which he chairs.

“I don't think there is any question that the tragedies around the country, most recently at Sandy Hook, put a chilling effect on broadening the right to carry on campuses and other venues,” said Whitmire. “I personally think we need a cooling off period.”

A gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown,

Conn., in December 2012.

When asked if the legislation is dead, Whitmire said that was a safe assumption, adding that it is a “very divisive” issue.

Katy Republican Sen. Glenn Hegar said he filed a narrower proposal Monday to guarantee students with CHL's the right to transport and store handguns in their vehicle on campus after “obviously knowing that (campus carry) bill is not going anywhere.”

Peter Winckler, a spokesman for Hegar, added that the senator filed the bill in part because “there wasn't much progress on the broader proposal.”

Whitmire's comments came shortly after the committee he chairs passed Hegar's tapered proposal, SB 1907, on to the full body. Whitmire said he is “willing to bet” the new proposal is ultimately passed.

“It is their own personal vehicle, their own personal firearm,” Hegar said of his new measure. “It is locked out of sight, out of mind; no one knows it's there's and it's their Second Amendment right.”

Hegar passed legislation last session that prohibits employers from adopting any policy that would ban its employees from transporting and storing any legal firearm, including long rifles, in their vehicles on the premises. That bill applies also to university employees, leaving students at a disadvantage, he said.

“I'm purely trying to make sure student CHL holders have the same rights and privileges as everyone else on campus,” he said of SB 1907, adding that it would only include handguns.

Hegar also said there is no plan in the works to attach a campus carry amendment to his measure.

“The bill that you see is the bill that I want to pass out of the Senate, nothing more on top of it,” Hegar said.

The stalled campus carry proposal, which former state Sen. Jeff Wentworth attempted to tack on as an amendment last session but failed, would require schools to allow students, faculty and staff who have a CHL to carry firearms anywhere on campus. State law currently restricts firearms from being carried in college buildings but leaves other areas, such as parking lots, up to individual institutions.

The lower-chamber's version of concealed carry on campus, House Bill 972, passed out of committee to the full body Monday but is yet to be scheduled for consideration.

State Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, authored HB 972. Chief of Staff Robert Papierz said the representative still hopes to pass his legislation despite Whitmire and Hegar's comments.

“The Senate voted 29-0 suspend rules to let this nonsensical bill be introduced Monday night, to be heard on Tuesday with basically no opportunity for public input — and at the same time, they still haven't set a hearing for universal background checks legislation, which has overwhelming support from 78 percent of Texans,” said John Woods, a board member for Texas Gun Sense whose girlfriend was killed in the Virginia Tech massacre. “Their priorities are all out of whack.”

Alice Tripp, legislative director for the Texas State Rifle Association, the state's NRA affiliate, said “it's a shame” the campus carry legislation will not be heard in committee but refused to comment further.

kparker@express-news.net

Twitter: @KoltenParker