Texas Senate delays vote on campus guns bill

AUSTIN, TX -- The Texas Senate abruptly cut off debate Thursday as support weakened for a GOP-backed measure that would allow concealed handguns in college classrooms, but the bill's sponsor expressed confidence he could round up the necessary votes by early next week.

The bill would allow Texas concealed handgun license holders, who must be at least 21 years old and pass a training course, to carry their weapons into classrooms.

Supporters call it a critical self-defense measure and guns-rights issue. Opponents, including several of the state's top higher education officials, have said it will make campuses more dangerous

Texas would become the second state, following Utah, to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option and several have allowed handguns.

The bill ran into problems when two Democrats, Sen. Mario Gallegos of Houston and Sen. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, withdrew their support during the floor debate. Under Texas Senate rules, 21 votes, or two-thirds of the chamber, are needed to bring a bill to the floor for consideration.

Lucio withdrew because he says Wentworth had promised to wait until Monday to give him more time to talk with local college officials. Gallegos said he was lobbied hard by colleges in the Houston area to pull back from the bill. Gallegos' switch left the bill with just 20 supporting votes.

"I'm really torn with this issue. I believe in the right to carry," Gallegos said. "But I also listen to my community colleges and universities. I've been bombarded in the last 24 hours."

Senate sponsor Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he counted his votes before bringing up the bill and was surprised by the move. He said he is hopeful the measure could be revived as early as Monday.

"Senator Gallegos was a definite 'yes' until we debated it for about an hour," Wentworth said. "I'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic."

The bill allows private universities to ban handguns, and Thursday's debate indicated growing support for allowing public colleges to also make that choice. Several amendments, most of them backed by Democrats, are being lined up for when debate resumes.

Wentworth said he will fight most of those, noting he is willing to exclude university hospitals and grade schools and high schools that are located on college campuses.

Thursday's stall came as supporters were expecting the bill to sail through the Legislature.

The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and over in the House, where Republicans hold a 101-member supermajority, the bill has more than 80 coauthors. Gov. Rick Perry has said he supports the measure and is expected to sign it into law if it reaches his desk.

Guns on campus bills have been rejected in at least 23 states since 2007. Supporters argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008, show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.

"I want to give law-abiding citizens a reasonable means of defense beyond duck and hide," Wentworth said when debate began.

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