A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at the Texas State Capitol on two proposed bills that would expand access to handguns, including one that would allow adults to carry handguns without a license.
House Bill 375, otherwise known as the Constitutional Carry Act of 2017, was proposed by Rep. Jonathan Stickland, a Republican from Bedford.
“It’s important because we don’t think that the Second Amendment is something that should be infringed upon. We think that people should not have to pay a fee or take a mandatory class to invoke their right to self-defense,” he said. “This is going to remove barriers to entry and allow people to make the decision to carry for themselves rather than having to beg the government for permission.”
Ten other states — Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming — have identical laws in place and recently the legislatures in New Hampshire and North Dakota passed similar measures.
Rick Aldredge, of Lillian, is hopeful that Texas will not become the latest state to join that list. The lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and former military contractor argued that gun permits are less about individual rights than they are the greater good.
“I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “We must have some form of checks and balances to assure us so we can sleep at night, to assure our legislators so they can sleep at night, that we are doing our best to keep guns out of the wrong hands.”
The advocacy group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America called House Bill 375 “dangerous” and argued in a social media post that it would “essentially dismantle our existing permitting system for people that choose to carry loaded handguns - openly or concealed - in public places.”
