Introduction
Texas has just ended its legislature for this year and has adjourned until the year 2017 for another 140 days of legislation. Any bill can now only be changed by emergency sessions if warranted by the lieutenant governor. With this conclusion, there have been various bills that have been passed into law and others pending the signature of the governor so as to become law (Kuehn, 2015). These regulations include, the use of cannabis oil in the control of seizures for epileptic patients, legislation on border security was passed increasing the number of troopers to manage the security. A bill on transportation improvements also sailed through. The ethics reform was unable to be passed by the legislators.
Guns are a very controversial subject all over the world. They are particularly controversial in America, and the capital city of all this gun frenzy is Texas. Reason activities associated with them are usually taken seriously. Gun legislation got passed and is presently waiting Governor Greg Abbot’s signature to become law (Brown, 2014). This paper seeks to profile the gun legislation. It aims to provide background into the contentious legislation, provide context by looking at the current political situation and the actions taken by the legislature with respect to this piece of rules. The conclusion of this paper gives an analysis into the future implication of this bill.
Background of the bill
This bill majorly focuses on the carrying of guns and has a few elements, including the ability to carry a gun openly provided you are permitted to own a handgun. The bill implies that an open carriage of Holstered gun allowed. Since 1995 Texans having trained in a shooting range, have been afforded the ability to carry concealed weapons and more precisely hand guns. Persons authorized to have handguns are now allowed to display guns since the concealing rules are lessening.
Texas legislature’s actions on the bill
Another measure of this legislation that was approved, is campus carry in which the lawmakers passed the carrying of a gun inside the university campuses (Brown, 2014). The bill was passed, but institutions were given the discretion of establishing some gun for free. This bill got primarily filed on November 10, 2014. It was first read on February 9, 2015. On the same day, it was referred to homeland security and public action. Presently it is waiting to be penned into law by the lieutenant governor. Other related legislations that involve guns and firearms legislation are, HB 106, HB 195, HB 291, HB 910, HB 415, HB 278, HB 415, SB 17 and SB 17. These House Bills (HB) and Senate Bills (SB) ranged from relating to the ability of an individual who is licensed to carry a handgun to carry the gun openly; providing penalties. A penalty gets imposed if one carries a gun to locations of higher populations such as universities and other public ventures.The main reasons for this are that legislation enhanced civil liberties and also ensured the responsible use of firearms. All these improve people’s security and their wealth. It sets a precedent to establish a new form of oversight when applied in full (Lane, 2014).
There were a lot of activities prior to the passing of this bill and after their passing, as various stakeholders in the security front sought to voice their opinions in one way or the other. There were over two rallies of licensed persons armed with small fire weapons to show their support for this legislation. Also, the social media mounts pressure on the legislators in favor of this bill (Kuehn, 2015). In this case, although there are persons of the contrary opinion, it is apparent that the majority was in favor. In the capital the gun rights activists and lobby groups were there in full swing to make their presence felt and seen. The majority of the tertiary learning institutions were cautious to allow the possession of firearms in their schools; their pressure yielded results in the form of the ability to come up with gun free zones. Also, the legal age to own a small gun being 21 means that the firearms will rarely be in the arms of a student. If a student is found to be in possession of a gun, then immediate action will be taken. With a two-thirds majority, or 94 to 42 against, this bill was indeed very well-known.
Conclusion
Indeed, it is imperative to understand the future implication of this legislation in the broader national context (Owings, 2011). Being a very contentious issue this issue is bound to illicit a lot of debate, more so on the national platform. If this bill proves a poor legislative decision, then certainly there will be the new policy formulation. Proper measures on these prohibited and unconcealed items should appropriate legislation to safeguard the public interest in these institutions. At this instant, however, the majority of the debate is centered on the carrying guns and its implications, especially considering the issue of its campus security (Masters, 2015).
References
Brown, W. (2014). Basic brown. New York, United States: Simon & Schuster.
Kuehn, B. (2015). Battle Over Florida Legislation Casts a Chill Over Gun Inquiries. Edinburgh, Scotland: A and C Black.
Lane, M. (2014). Gun Control. Sydney, Australia: HarperCollins Publishers.
Masters, B. (2015). Unbranded. College Station, Texas: A & M University Press.
Owings, L. (2011) The Newtown School Shooting. Hoboken, New Jersey: Pearson.