Texas Senate advances bill allowing handguns without license – By Jim Vertuno (Associated Press) / May 5 2021
Texas would allow people to carry handguns without a license, and the background check and training that go with it, under a measure approved by the state Senate on Wednesday
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas would allow people to carry a handgun without a license, and the background check and training that go with it, under a measure approved by the state Senate on Wednesday.
Texas already has some of the loosest gun laws in the country and has more than 1.6 million handgun license holders. Lawmakers have reduced classroom and shooting range training requirements over the last decade, but had been reluctant to eliminate the license requirement altogether.
That changed over the past few weeks with a push from the right wing of the Legislature’s Republican majority over the objections of law enforcement and gun control groups. If it becomes law, Texas would join nearly two dozen states that allow some form of unregulated carry of a handgun but it would be the most populous by far.
The state House has already passed a similar version of the bill and the two chambers will have to negotiate differences before sending it to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has said he’ll sign it into law.
