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Texas (extracted from a longer article by by Larry Arnold from the Texas Concealed Handgun Association website: Texas Concealed Handgun Association)
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The first Texas law against concealed and open carry was "An Act to Regulate the Keeping and Bearing of Deadly Weapons, Law of April 12, 1871, ch. 34, §1, 1871 Tex. Gen. Laws 25" passed as part of the Reconstruction. That law was not substantially modified until 1995. In many ways the Texas process was typical. The push started with proposed laws in 1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989 (the Texas Legislature meeting only on odd numbered years). The 1991 attempt came closer to passing, but failed to gain enough support in the legislature, and was amended to death.
73[SUP]rd[/SUP] Legislature, 1993
In 1993 CHL returned again, and this time the big state media let loose with the typical "blood in the streets" predictions, both in quotes of anti-gunners and echoed on the opinion pages. They called for the people to contact their legislators. The People did. I really think the popular support for the law caught the media by surprise. Then the Governor, Ann Richards, weighed in with the news that she would veto any CHL law the legislature passed. Politically, that should have been the end, but popular support would not let the bill die. Trying to find something the governor would sign, the 73[SUP]rd[/SUP] Legislature ended up passing a law that only called for a statewide referendum on CHL, not authorizing anyone to actually set up any program. Governor Richards vetoed it anyway, saying that the people of Texas didn't need to vote on something like concealed carry.
74[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1995
Two years later the 74[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature passed SB 60, and the new Governor George W. Bush fulfilled a campaign promise to sign the first Texas concealed carry bill. Throughout the long struggle to get a concealed handgun law passed for Texas there were a number of people who risked their political lives to accomplish what many thought might be an impossible task. Two stand out.
One is Texas Senator Jerry Patterson, who sponsored and shepherded a number of the bills, including the successful 1995 effort and the equally important 1997 revision. He happens to be a classmate of mine from Texas A&M University, Class of 1969.
The other is Suzanna Gratia, who rose from the tragedy in Killeen to provide essential testimony at a critical time. As Suzanna Gratia-Hupp she become a Representative in the Texas Legislature and served several terms, always speaking up for gun owners.
The law went into effect September 1, giving the Texas Department of Public Safety about three months to write all the procedures, design the paperwork, and train enough Qualified Instructors to teach the required course DPS wrote. They did it.
About 2,000 newly-minted Qualified Handgun Instructors began teaching the ten to fifteen hour CHL new-license class September 1, facing an initial flood of about 200,000 applicants. The new concealed handgun licensees started legally carrying January 1, 1996. It was somewhat anticlimactic, as the predicted bloodbath failed to materialize.
There was an initial surge in "No Handguns" signs on businesses that had been convinced the knuckle-dragging CHLs would invade in their camo clothing, tromping through stores in muddy boots spitting tobacco everywhere and running decent customers away. Instead, it was the decent customers who politely informed store owners that unless the signs came down their business would go elsewhere. Six months later "No Handguns" signs were an endangered species.
75[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1997
A loophole creating a conflict between concealed carry rules and alcoholic beverage license regulations made a revision of the law necessary. That was accomplished in 1997, and went into effect 1 September of that year. More significantly, that same bill also effectively removed hospitals and nursing homes, amusement parks, places of worship, and government meetings from the list of places where concealed carry is automatically prohibited. Another law established the "30.06" sign as the only one property owners could officially use to ban concealed carry.
76[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1999
The anti-gun folks came back in the 76[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature with bills to prohibit firearms anywhere on a school's property, and to reinstate the prohibition on carrying in a place of worship. Both were handily defeated. A number of pro-gun bills also failed to pass, and would be revisited in subsequent sessions. These include an effort to clarify the definition of "travelling," carrying in a car, lowering fees for veterans, securing the privacy of licensees, concealed carry on college and university campuses, and allowing military personnel to qualify for a CHL at 18.
77[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2001
In 2001 the 77[SUP]th[/SUP] legislature added one restriction, prohibiting possession of any firearm within 1,000 feet of a place of execution on the day of an execution. A bill to deny concealed carry in a place of worship but with a provision that the church or synagogue could allow carrying failed, as did a bill prohibiting carrying in school parking lots and streets. On the pro-gun side, bills reducing veteran's fees and securing licensees privacy failed, as did a flawed bill extending the license period from four to five years and a bill that would have kept cities and counties from using PC 30.06 to ban concealed carry in government facilities.
78[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2003
The 78[SUP]th[/SUP] legislature passed the ban on government agencies using PC 30.06, establishing the right to carry on public facilities. It also loosened rules on out-of-state Texas CHLs and the requirements for reciprocity. As a result, within two years the number of reciprocal states jumped from eight to twenty-seven. Bills to insure licensee privacy, allow concealed carry on Lower Colorado River Authority property, and expand firearms possession on school campuses failed, but so did a proposal that would have extended CHL training and required a psychological evaluation for licensing.
79[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2005
A number of pro-CHL bills passed the 79[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature. They extended renewal licenses from four years to five, eased the requirements for states whose licenses we recognize, allowed military personnel to get a CHL at 18, cut the new license fee for active military and the renewal fee for seniors in half, allowed persons from any state to qualify for a Texas out-of-state CHL, allowed payment of CHL fees by personal check, and eased eligibility requirements for a person with an old deferred adjudication. The most significant legislation attempted to change the definition of "travelling" to allow unlicensed carry in a personal vehicle. However, this law proved to be controversial, with several district attorneys claiming that it failed to actually accomplish its aim.
Bills insuring licensee privacy and allowing concealed carry on LCRA property failed to pass, as did a bill prohibiting concealed carry in school parking lots and an "assault weapons" ban. Also failing was the first attempt at restricting employer gun bans in parking lots.
--------
The doctor's name is Suzanna Gratia Hupp and she wrote a book about her CHL experience in Texas:
From Luby's to the Legislature: One Woman's Fight Against Gun Control
The mass shooting at Luby's Cafeteria in Central Texas made news around the world and turned an unknown chiropractor into a national champion for the right of ordinary citizens to carry guns for self-defense.
73[SUP]rd[/SUP] Legislature, 1993
In 1993 CHL returned again, and this time the big state media let loose with the typical "blood in the streets" predictions, both in quotes of anti-gunners and echoed on the opinion pages. They called for the people to contact their legislators. The People did. I really think the popular support for the law caught the media by surprise. Then the Governor, Ann Richards, weighed in with the news that she would veto any CHL law the legislature passed. Politically, that should have been the end, but popular support would not let the bill die. Trying to find something the governor would sign, the 73[SUP]rd[/SUP] Legislature ended up passing a law that only called for a statewide referendum on CHL, not authorizing anyone to actually set up any program. Governor Richards vetoed it anyway, saying that the people of Texas didn't need to vote on something like concealed carry.
74[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1995
Two years later the 74[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature passed SB 60, and the new Governor George W. Bush fulfilled a campaign promise to sign the first Texas concealed carry bill. Throughout the long struggle to get a concealed handgun law passed for Texas there were a number of people who risked their political lives to accomplish what many thought might be an impossible task. Two stand out.
One is Texas Senator Jerry Patterson, who sponsored and shepherded a number of the bills, including the successful 1995 effort and the equally important 1997 revision. He happens to be a classmate of mine from Texas A&M University, Class of 1969.
The other is Suzanna Gratia, who rose from the tragedy in Killeen to provide essential testimony at a critical time. As Suzanna Gratia-Hupp she become a Representative in the Texas Legislature and served several terms, always speaking up for gun owners.
The law went into effect September 1, giving the Texas Department of Public Safety about three months to write all the procedures, design the paperwork, and train enough Qualified Instructors to teach the required course DPS wrote. They did it.
About 2,000 newly-minted Qualified Handgun Instructors began teaching the ten to fifteen hour CHL new-license class September 1, facing an initial flood of about 200,000 applicants. The new concealed handgun licensees started legally carrying January 1, 1996. It was somewhat anticlimactic, as the predicted bloodbath failed to materialize.
There was an initial surge in "No Handguns" signs on businesses that had been convinced the knuckle-dragging CHLs would invade in their camo clothing, tromping through stores in muddy boots spitting tobacco everywhere and running decent customers away. Instead, it was the decent customers who politely informed store owners that unless the signs came down their business would go elsewhere. Six months later "No Handguns" signs were an endangered species.
75[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1997
A loophole creating a conflict between concealed carry rules and alcoholic beverage license regulations made a revision of the law necessary. That was accomplished in 1997, and went into effect 1 September of that year. More significantly, that same bill also effectively removed hospitals and nursing homes, amusement parks, places of worship, and government meetings from the list of places where concealed carry is automatically prohibited. Another law established the "30.06" sign as the only one property owners could officially use to ban concealed carry.
76[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 1999
The anti-gun folks came back in the 76[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature with bills to prohibit firearms anywhere on a school's property, and to reinstate the prohibition on carrying in a place of worship. Both were handily defeated. A number of pro-gun bills also failed to pass, and would be revisited in subsequent sessions. These include an effort to clarify the definition of "travelling," carrying in a car, lowering fees for veterans, securing the privacy of licensees, concealed carry on college and university campuses, and allowing military personnel to qualify for a CHL at 18.
77[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2001
In 2001 the 77[SUP]th[/SUP] legislature added one restriction, prohibiting possession of any firearm within 1,000 feet of a place of execution on the day of an execution. A bill to deny concealed carry in a place of worship but with a provision that the church or synagogue could allow carrying failed, as did a bill prohibiting carrying in school parking lots and streets. On the pro-gun side, bills reducing veteran's fees and securing licensees privacy failed, as did a flawed bill extending the license period from four to five years and a bill that would have kept cities and counties from using PC 30.06 to ban concealed carry in government facilities.
78[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2003
The 78[SUP]th[/SUP] legislature passed the ban on government agencies using PC 30.06, establishing the right to carry on public facilities. It also loosened rules on out-of-state Texas CHLs and the requirements for reciprocity. As a result, within two years the number of reciprocal states jumped from eight to twenty-seven. Bills to insure licensee privacy, allow concealed carry on Lower Colorado River Authority property, and expand firearms possession on school campuses failed, but so did a proposal that would have extended CHL training and required a psychological evaluation for licensing.
79[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature, 2005
A number of pro-CHL bills passed the 79[SUP]th[/SUP] Legislature. They extended renewal licenses from four years to five, eased the requirements for states whose licenses we recognize, allowed military personnel to get a CHL at 18, cut the new license fee for active military and the renewal fee for seniors in half, allowed persons from any state to qualify for a Texas out-of-state CHL, allowed payment of CHL fees by personal check, and eased eligibility requirements for a person with an old deferred adjudication. The most significant legislation attempted to change the definition of "travelling" to allow unlicensed carry in a personal vehicle. However, this law proved to be controversial, with several district attorneys claiming that it failed to actually accomplish its aim.
Bills insuring licensee privacy and allowing concealed carry on LCRA property failed to pass, as did a bill prohibiting concealed carry in school parking lots and an "assault weapons" ban. Also failing was the first attempt at restricting employer gun bans in parking lots.
--------
The doctor's name is Suzanna Gratia Hupp and she wrote a book about her CHL experience in Texas:
From Luby's to the Legislature: One Woman's Fight Against Gun Control
The mass shooting at Luby's Cafeteria in Central Texas made news around the world and turned an unknown chiropractor into a national champion for the right of ordinary citizens to carry guns for self-defense.
