Campus Carry Passes Texas Senate: House Next

The Standard Times reported:

Texas surged toward allowing concealed handguns in public college classrooms, dorms and buildings with a key Senate vote Saturday.

If approved by the House on Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the bill into law, taking effect Aug. 1, 2016. The legislative session ends Monday.

Flashback six years for the local take on this issue:

"I believe that we all have a right to carry under a concealed handgun permit as long as you pass a training course and background check," Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo said. "It's a fundamental right that Texans have."

James Adams, the ASU police chief, said the course required to obtain a concealed handgun license is not adequate training if someone were put in a highly stressful situation like a school shooting. He said he and his department oppose the legislation.

"My opposition is not the right for people to have weapons," Adams said. "My biggest concern is the level of training and process that people go through to get the training."

He said police officers receive an extraordinary amount of handgun training, and even they might have a hard time following procedure if a shooting were to occur.

Adams also said a police officer's job would be far more complicated when responding to a call where multiple people have guns.

"It's different than if a guy holds up a liquor store or a residence," he said. "When you have a situation where you have potentially hundreds of people around, it makes it harder for people to manage in a situation like that. Had students been armed at Virginia Tech, would it have really turned out different?"

There's no public record of any other stance from current Angelo State administrators.  This bill will likely be signed into law before their voice can be heard.

Update 6-1-15:  The House passed the measure 98-47.  No local positions were mentioned in this article.

Update 6-6-15:  The Standard Times did a piece on Angelo State University and Howard College needing to implement campus carry.  Brace for impact.