Last Hurdle Overcome, Open Carry Goes To A Final Vote In Texas

By Bob Owens

Texas legislators have removed a surprisingly controversial and arguably redundant “no-stop” provision from open carry legislation, creating a final draft which could be voted on by both the House and Senate at virtually any time:

Texas lawmakers on Thursday negotiated a final version of a bill allowing licensed open carry of handguns, easing concerns of police and priming it for a vote that would send it to Gov. Greg Abbott.

House and Senate negotiators said they stripped out a no-stop provision — language that sought to bar police from demanding to see the license of someone carrying a gun if they had no other reason to stop the person.

That component had passed both Republican-dominated chambers by large margins, but later prompted angry rebuttal from law enforcement around the state. Police called it a “game changer” that would endanger officers and the public.

A final vote could come as early as Friday. The legislative session ends Monday.

Open carry has been one of the major gun-rights issues of the legislative session, and Abbott has pledged to sign it into law.

A weakened campus carry bill also appears to be nearing a final vote.

The Texas Senate author of the campus-carry gun bill said …read more

Source:: Bearing Arms