Texas 'open-carry' gun bill passes just days after deadly Waco shootout

The Texas state legislature voted Friday to loosen gun restrictions just a few days after a deadly shootout in Waco killed nine people and injured 18.

If Texas’s governor signs the law, as he has indicated he will, those licensed for concealed-carry firearms in the state will be permitted to carry an open, holstered handgun.

“All of us were horrified at what happened in Waco,” said the bill’s sponsor, state senator Craig Linton Estes, a Republican of Wichita Falls. “I truly do not think that this bill we are working on today, whether it’s as it is now or in law at the time, would have made any difference with that lawless bunch of people.”

Police recovered 118 firearms and an AK-47 at the biker rally in Waco, but lawmakers such as Estes insist the open-carry legislation and violence in Waco are unrelated. The open carry of long guns and rifles is already legal in Texas.

Estes called the bill “practically perfect” and said he believed that “very few” of the people involved in the violence in Waco were licensed to carry a firearm in Texas.

“These are lawless people, and the people we’re trying to help are law-abiding citizens and gun owners,” said Estes, invoking the familiar good-guys-with-guns refrain often heard from firearms lobbyists.

HB910 received significant press coverage after the Senate committee on state affairs passed the legislation one day after a deadly shootout in Waco.

If HB910 is signed into law people carrying firearms in the open will be required to meet existing concealed carry provisions in Texas.

HB910 passed by 20 votes to 11 in the state senate after several Democrats mounted a more than hour-long questioning of the amendment barring law enforcement from inquiring about firearms licenses.

Texas senator John Whitmire, a Democrat from Houston, said that police across the state were opposed to the amendment, and that it even “frightened” them.

“Why won’t you listen to the people who put their lives on the line for us every day?” Whitmire asked. Some police have also speculated that an open-carry law would have made the Waco shootout an even more confusing situation.

At least eight amendments to the open-carry bill were shot down, including a background check amendment and an add-on to require carriers to display a license on their gun holsters.

Texas senator Don Huffines, a Republican from Dallas, briefly introduced an amendment to eliminate all licensing requirements for firearms – known as “constitutional carry” in gun rights circles – before withdrawing the amendment when Estes balked.

A bill to legalize carrying a firearm on college and university campuses, SB11, is also at its final legislative hurdle.

In a statement on legislative priorities, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick said he was happy the house and senate could “finally” come together to pass the law.

“Lastly, the issue of open carry will finally be passed and Texas will join the large majority of states who allow open carry,” said Patrick. “I am proud of the fact the legislature is making history while defending life, liberty and our second amendment right.”

Organizers from the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents, a bikers club coalition, have said that support for the bill appears split among their membership.