By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signed legislation that will allow Texans to carry firearms in public without a permit, leaving gun prohibition proponents furious while gun rights activists are celebrating a victory.
House Bill 1927 takes effect Sept. 1, according to the Texas Tribune.
The newspaper reported that lawmakers reached a compromise behind closed doors that “kept intact a number of changes the Senate made to the House bill, including striking a provision that would have barred officers from questioning people based only on their possession of a handgun.”
Under provisions of the new law, the Texas Department of Public Safety will offer a free online course on gun safety, the Tribune noted.
Texas joins some 20 other states with the same provision. The idea of permitless carry has been gaining popularity among Second Amendment activists, while anti-gunners have predicted dire consequences.
Democrats even tried to exploit the recent mass shooting in Austin, the state capital, to discourage Abbot from signing the bill. However, neither of the suspects now in custody would have been able to carry a gun anyway because they are both under age 21. One person was killed in that shooting and several others were wounded.
Anti-gunners also cited shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa to oppose the bill.
