Texas is poised to remove one of its last gun restrictions after lawmakers approved allowing people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it.
The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the bill Monday, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it. Law enforcement groups have said it would endanger the public and police.
Texas is poised to remove one of its last major gun restrictions after lawmakers approved allowing people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it. The Republican-dominated Legislature approved the measure Monday, sending it to Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it despite the objections of law enforcement groups who say it would endanger the public and police.
Gun control groups also oppose the measure, noting the state s recent history of mass shootings, including those at an El Paso Walmart, a church in Sutherland Springs, and a high school outside Houston.
Texas already has some of the loosest gun laws in the country and has more than 1.6 million handgun license holders.
Supporters of the bill say it would allow Texans to better defend themselves in public while abolishing unnecessary impediments to the constitutional right to bear arms. Once signed into law, Texas will join nearly two dozen other states that allow some form of unregulated carry of a handgun, and by far be the most populous.
The National Rifle Association was among those supporting the measure, and a spokesman called it the most significant gun-rights measure in the state s history. A right requiring you to pay a tax or obtain a government permission slip is not a right at all, said Jason Ouimet, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.