As you may recall, the Texas State Senate already voted to pass a bill that would allow concealed carry on college campuses last Spring, but the bill lingered and never made it into law. And it's plausible that it being an election year had something to do with the bill's failure, but free of those constraints, and fresh off the heels of a shooting on a college campus, Texas Republicans are reviving the bill and urging its passage.
Now, top Republican lawmakers — including Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Tim Poe — are using Tuesday’s incident to call for more weapons on campus. [...]
Five days ago, Texas State Sen. Brian Birdwell (R) and 13 other Republican authors introduced a measure that would prohibit higher ed institutions from imposing “bans or penalties on students who are licensed to carry a concealed handgun.” Schools could prohibit firearms at college sporting events, however. A similar bill failed to pass last year.
The bill to allow concealed carry on college campuses was introduced several days before yesterday's shooting but, rather than reconsider or recoil in doubt, Texas Republicans feel a new sense of urgency.
Representative Tim Poe, a proponent of the new bill, said yesterday's campus shooting "brings to focus the fact that many schools and universities and students are defenseless at the schools and places of higher education and this seems to show that."
Even at face value that's a ludicrous takeaway, but it's even more egregious when you consider that two of those who were shot yesterday were simply caught in a crossfire.
Do Texas Republicans want more crossfire?