Texas cowboys ride again: Lawmakers poised to allow guns on college campuses

Read Time:2 Minute, 44 Second

Oh those wacky Texans! They have never gotten over the fact that the Wild West days are well behind us.  On the contrary, if left to their own devices the Texas Republicans would probably require gun ownership for those over the age of 5 years.  So who is the head cowboy?  Well “let’s secede for the union” Governor Rick Perry, an extraordinary  fool of the most radical proportions.  His excuse for fellating the NRA?  Well the Virginia Tech shootings of course.  While terrible such incidents are few and far between and in no way should justify giving everyone the right to carry guns on college campuses.

This is little more than pandering to the extreme right.  Those crazy Christians who cling to their bibles and their guns as if they possessed the power to make them wealthy and smart.  Both possibilities, at least in the State of Texas, are slim indeed.

Here is the Raw Story:

Texas is poised to approve a measure allowing college students and professors to carry guns on campus, an initiative with strong support in the state legislature that critics concede they probably can’t stop.

The legislation has been championed by Gov. Rick Perry, co-sponsored by over half the lawmakers in the state House, and approved two years ago in the Senate. Texas would follow Utah, the only state in the nation to have a similar law.

“It’s strictly a matter of self-defense,” state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, a Republican, told The Associated Press. “I don’t ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks.”

The measure’s supporters commonly argue that it would make campus shootings less likely, not more, wading into a key point of contention between opponents and proponents of looser gun laws.

College leaders across the nation have criticized the idea as dangerous, dismissing the view that a filling up the classrooms and dorm rooms with weapons would make inhabitants safer.

Glen Johnson, Oklahoma’s chancellor of high education envisioned “no scenario where allowing concealed weapons on college campuses will do anything other than create a more dangerous environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors.”

That the Texas legislature overwhelmingly disagrees is a testament to the state’s gun culture as well as the towering political influence of the pro-gun lobby.

“Things do look bleak,” Colin Goddard of the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin lobbying against the bill, told AP. “People want to be the hero, I understand that. They play video games and they think they understand the reality. It’s nothing like that.”

Nationwide, the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups have in the last two decades outspent gun-control advocates by over 20-to-1 on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Texas ranks 32nd on the list of states with most permissive gun laws, and 23rd in per capita gun deaths, according to data compiled by The Daily Beast.

More than 20 states have rejected similar proposals introduced since the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007.

Texas would become only the second state, after Utah, to enforce such a rule.

Enhanced by Zemanta

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

4 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
11 years ago

Future Gravestone of America – “Here lies America – killed by God & Guns.”

13 years ago

I can’t think of anything scarier.
Every High School teacher knows how adolescent boys, and to a lesser extent, girls are extremely volatile. Their emotional state can change in seconds, for no apparent reason. I’ve had two girls, normally good friends end up rolling on the classroom floor, punching and pulling hair, because one of them “looked at my boyfriend”.
Adding guns to the mix is insanity.
What’s next?
Polycarbonate ballistic shields around the teacher’s desk?
Bodyguards?
7.62mm miniguns above the blackboard?

lazersedge
13 years ago

UT Austin has 40,000+ students. Wow! What a homecoming weekend they will have. How many ways can we do the body count on fraternity row after a keg party. Can we give Texas back to Mexico?

Michael John Scott
Reply to  lazersedge
13 years ago

If Rick Perry had his way and Texas actually seceded Mexico might just take Texas back Bill 🙂

Previous post Critter Talk: Heartworms in February? You betcha!
Next post Cairo to Madison: How about some pizza?!
4
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x