College students in Texas are now
permitted to carry handguns in school. A new state law that went into effect on
Monday August 1st, permits students who are at least 21 years old and have a
concealed handgun license, to bring guns onto most college campuses. The
controversial campus law permits the students to do so at all public colleges
and universities.
While some college facilities, including
sports arenas and chemical labs, are off-limits for concealed gun holders,
private schools and two-year community colleges are excluded until next year.
According to proponents of the law, an
armed student body might be able to prevent incidents of mass shootings before
the police might arrive. Critics however fear that new measures might encourage
more violence, especially in a school environment filled with depression and
alcohol.
The Texas law took effect on the 50th
anniversary of the clock tower massacre - one of the deadliest mass shootings
in American history - in which a student gunman shot 49 people, killing 16, at
the University of Texas at Austin. The shooter, Charles Whitman, a
Marine-trained 25-yr-old engineering student, climbed to the 28th-floor
observation deck of a campus clock tower and began firing on students and
staff.
The University of Texas unsuccessfully
lobbied against the law which was pushed through by Republican Gov. Gregg
Abbott and a majority in the Republican-led state Legislature.
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