Gov. Greg Abbott announced a new school safety plan and proposed changes to gun laws

[jason812]

Keep guns and ammo away from 17 year olds because they are children. When they shoot up a school, the same 17 year old is tried as an adult. I think the little thug should be hung but I also think there needs to be some consistency in the laws.

Like others have asked, why do LTC holders continue to be barred from carrying in a school? There's a small chance that a LTC holder would be at the school but it's better than zero chance.

I visit my girlfriend at the school she works at occasionally. they call me in to do IT work every so often. and i think youd be surprised how many teachers have LTCs. if my gf will hurry and submit her application, she'd have one. and i know of at least 4 teachers who have an LTC but arent able to carry becuase of the stupid laws barring us from entering schools. its ridiculous we can walk around outside the school all day long. on the parking lots, the sidewalks, even up to the doors to the school. but as soon as we step inside we're breaking the law. it makes absolutely NO sense. if we wanted to break the law we'd do it regardless. It's a stupid ineffective law. it's like telling a child not to sneak cookies before dinner and then leaving the cookie jar open on the floor. if people wanted to break the law they would regardless of if they have a LTC or not... that being said, i think people with a LTC are extremely LESS likely to break the law... its a backwards law.

I meant but forgot to type " LTC holders who are not teachers". Seems we want to arm teachers which is fine with me but why is there this continuation of carve outs for who gets privileges and who does not?

[jason812]

Keep guns and ammo away from 17 year olds because they are children. When they shoot up a school, the same 17 year old is tried as an adult. I think the little thug should be hung but I also think there needs to be some consistency in the laws.

Like others have asked, why do LTC holders continue to be barred from carrying in a school? There's a small chance that a LTC holder would be at the school but it's better than zero chance.

no, they aren't, if they were the death penalty would be on the table as would life. As it is according to Paxton the Santa Fe shooter may possibly get the max of 40 years unless some fancy footwork happens.

He will be tried as an adult. If found guilty, he will not be punished fully as an adult.

[Boxerrider]

Small, incremental infringements....for the children.

Exactly. No new laws.
Schools already have the power to better protect personnel & students. Remove the existing restrictions on law-abiding citizens.
If something new must be done, then focus efforts on identifying youngsters with behavioral problems and molding them into productive teens.

[cyphertext]

How in the world can your son have the time and privacy to build a pipe bomb while living with you?

Seriously? Where your parents with you 24x7 when you were a teen? A couple of hours on the internet one day, a trip to home depot on another, then a couple of hours putting them together!

How do teens have enough privacy to drink? How do teens have enough privacy to get high? How do teens have enough privacy to get pregnant? You can't be with them 24x7.

[DEB]

Keep guns and ammo away from 17 year olds because they are children. When they shoot up a school, the same 17 year old is tried as an adult. I think the little thug should be hung but I also think there needs to be some consistency in the laws.

Like others have asked, why do LTC holders continue to be barred from carrying in a school? There's a small chance that a LTC holder would be at the school but it's better than zero chance.

There shouldn't be any laws barring 17 year olds, 16 year olds and etc from firearms and ammo. (I know the law currently says you cannot give someone 16 years old to have unaccompanied access to guns and ammo) This creating new laws everytime something bad happens is crazy. Young people have used firearms for self protection for as long as firearms have been around. What about rural youth? Think the parents are going to change the way they do things and have done things, just because Austin says so? Start hanging the kids and their parents for their actions or inactions, don't try to punish and regulate the rest of Texas because of what they caused. This creating new laws, which then cause others to break said laws, just creates nothing but a contemptuous attitude toward all laws. I was raised around firearms with ammunition, I raised my Children around firearms and ammunition, even apparently during the time period when it was against the law, although I didn't know it at the time. The news is full of cases where children saved themselves and their families with firearms, often even killing the bad guy. But now, it is better to lose one family because of the inability to protect, than possibly someone crazy getting access to firearms? Protect the schools, close and lock the doors, put armed personnel in the schools, provide mental health, but stop this Liberal throw a law at it process. I would rather my taxes go up to protect schools, than remove more and more of my rights.

[oohrah]

Small, incremental infringements....for the children.

If something new must be done, then focus efforts on identifying youngsters with behavioral problems and molding them into productive teens.

This is actually part of Abbott's proposal.

[LDB415]

If I can't remember where I secured my gun, but it might be in a safe deposit box that I won't be able to get to for a couple weeks, should I report it just to be safe?

Is this really an issue for you? Do you have so many places that you secure your firearm, you might "forget" where you secured it?

Simple solution. Buy a Field Notes notebook. Make notes of every firearm with S/N and exactly where it is kept. Then you don't even have to look on shelf 1, 2 or 3 in the gun safe, you go straight to shelf 2 and the one you want.

I think what soccerdad was getting at is that he changes the location of his guns depending on if he's traveling or not so he might forget which safe/location he put his guns.

You can update the location over a dozen times per page before running out of room, far more if you double or triple column. It also keeps every S/N at hand at all times. The same could be done with a smart phone I'm sure but there's something about a good pen and Field Notes that just goes better together.

[Charles L. Cotton]

When are the Santa Fe shooter's parents, or any other mass shooter under 18's parents, going to be charged with making firearms accessible to minors?

Putting adults in jail for not keeping their firearms secure is a big step in the right direction.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

We live in a society where nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions so it's easier to blame an inanimate who can't defend itself.

In order to charge the parents then a law would have to be made up. He was 17, parents not required to lock up firearms from him.

if that's what needs to be done then so be it. I guarantee you if the parents were scared of going to jail, they'd be sure to keep their guns locked up which would in turn make it harder for these delinquents to get their hands on guns.

I disagree. TPC §46.13 should be repealed, rather than raise the prohibited age to 18 years. We cannot have laws that target a tiny fraction of people in any given subgroup to the extreme prejudice of an overwhelming majority of people within that subgroup. For every school shooter under age 17, there are hundreds of thousands of teenagers at home alone because their parent(s) are working. Why should a 15 year old girl at home alone be defenseless on the off-chance that one kid in many millions will engage in criminal misuse of a firearm? Doing so when violent home invasions are on the rise is unconscionable in my view.

I'm putting together a podcast on the Governor's Plan.

Chas.

[oljames3]

From The Texas Politics Project
https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/blog/g ... nouncement

We’ve gathered some relevant results from the dozens of items on gun rights, gun control, and gun violence that we’ve included in University of Texas / Texas Tribune Polling over the last several years, during which there have been at least 180 school shootings. They provide some context for what the governor included and left out in his proposals.

Governor Abbott's Plan
https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/pre ... 302018.pdf

[bblhd672]

There was a topic/thread about this on the forum yesterday...seems to have disappeared.

[Mike S]

It's key to understand the article linked is referencing a poll of what respondents "feel" are the catalyst(s) for Mass shootings. How people "feel" isn't something to base policy decisions or laws on; empirical evidence & data related to indicators, risk, & mitigation are what these decisions aught to be based on.

I printed out the Governor's report & gave it an initial look this morning. Much of what's in there seems appropriate in regards to counseling, mental health services, and early warning via iWatch/Crime Stoppers (albiet a long road ahead before the limited resources are able to span all of the ISDs & charter schools across the state).

One thing that did stand out to me was the nearly synonymous use of "School Marshall" (a TCOLE certified employee) with the "School Safety Course" (any school employee with an LTC & passing the SSC). The former received quite a bit of attention in the report, whereas the SSC was only alluded to. Also, I'm not sure that the 80-hrs of School Marshall curriculum is a major factor in ISDs reluctance to adopt them, as much as creating a funded position(s) with associated benefits for what many Boards perceive as an unlikely event.

Some adjustments to certain laws & policies 'might' be appropriate as well, provided there's actual evidence to support it making a difference. Otherwise, it's just a feel good measure.

[Abraham]

What's going to happen when those students who drive to high school, park in the school lot, later start mowing down students with their vehicles?

Or fill the blank. Knives, baseball bats, rocks...

When will these knuckle heads get it through their pea brains it isn't guns to blame, it's crazy people who 'will' find a way to create mayhem...?

[Papa_Tiger]

When will these knuckle heads get it through their pea brains it isn't guns to blame, it's crazy people who 'will' find a way to create mayhem...?

But... but... but... it is just so much easier to cause lots of damage with a 300 magazine clip per second, fully semi-automatic death dealing machine than with rocks, knives, baseball bats or cars!

Particularly if it has that shoulder thing that goes up!

[BBYC]

If polls show the public "feels" a certain demographic is more prone to commit crimes, should police profile based on that?

[rotor]

What's going to happen when those students who drive to high school, park in the school lot, later start mowing down students with their vehicles?

Or fill the blank. Knives, baseball bats, rocks...

When will these knuckle heads get it through their pea brains it isn't guns to blame, it's crazy people who 'will' find a way to create mayhem...?

Exactly.
Or do the shooting just outside the building while the students are standing in line waiting to get into the school. Then when a new report comes in requiring fences around all schools the shootings can be just outside the fence while students are waiting to come in. Make the fence bigger. Then the shootings will be school buses. Technically I guess these will not be reported as school shootings if they occur just outside the boundary of a school. The reality is that unless we can eliminate mental illness (we can't) we will not eliminate these copycat shootings.