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Another Texas Senator Needs To Fact Check His Anti-Gun Arguments

Texas A&M University-Kingsville: Where Senator Lucio needs to perform his own due diligence before repeating as fact the arguments fed to him by college administrators seeking to carry out their own political agendas.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus

Texas - -(Ammoland.com)- Just 24 hours after refuting Senator Rodney Ellis’s (D-Houston) claim that legalizing licensed concealed carry (of handguns) on Texas college campuses would cost public colleges millions in increased insurance premiums, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is prepared to call out another Texas Senator for playing fast and loose with the facts.

Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville) has repeatedly argued that the entire campus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville should be exempted from any proposed campus carry legislation because, according to Senator Lucio, the university shares facilities with Santa Gertrudis Academy High School.

But while Senator Lucio’s argument conjures up images of high school and college students passing each other in common restrooms and sitting across from each other in a common cafeteria, no such common areas exist.

W. Scott Lewis, Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, commented, “I’m not sure if Senator Lucio honestly doesn’t understand the relationship between the university and the high school or if he’s simply trying to pass a ‘not in my backyard’ amendment, but it’s clear that his statements don’t reflect reality.”

Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio), author of the “campus carry” legislation at issue, attempted to address Senator Lucio’s concerns by amending the bill to clarify that concealed carry would still be prohibited on the premises of any primary or secondary school located on a college campus. But Senator Lucio wasn’t satisfied, claiming, “The reason, Senator Wentworth, your amendment is not going to work in my district is because the high school campus in Kingsville is not confined to a single building. They share facilities with the university. It is impossible to enforce your amendment, so we need to exempt the university.”

Something about Senator Lucio’s argument didn’t sit right with campus carry advocate Michael Cargill, who noted, “The idea that parents of 14- and 15-year-old girls wouldn’t object to their daughters sharing lunchrooms and athletic facilities with 20-year-old men struck me as highly improbable.” Mr. Cargill decided to visit the campus and see for himself.

At Santa Gretrudis Academy High School, Mr. Cargill spoke with Superintendent Mary E. Springs, Athletic Coordinator Hector Gonzales, and a school resource officer from the Kingsville Police Department who asked not to be named.

Although Senator Lucio’s office told Mr. Cargill that the high school shares a cafeteria and athletic facility with the university, Mr. Cargill quickly learned that the high school students actually use the cafeteria and gymnasium at Santa Gertrudis’ nearby K-8 school.

He also learned that the high school, which has fewer than 200 students, is housed on one floor of a two-story building shared with the university. The floor used by the high school has its own secured entrance and is not accessible from the floor used by the college. According to the school resource officer, the entire building (both floors) is considered a high school for the purpose of enforcing federal gun free/drug free school zone laws.

There are only two instances when the high school utilizes TAMUK facilities: It hosts interscholastic sporting events at TAMUK’s “old gym,” and students sometimes visit the university library to conduct research for school projects.

Because state law would still prohibit carrying a concealed handgun at a high school sporting event, the high school’s use of the “old gym” would not create a conflict. And because all public libraries and most museums in the state of Texas allow licensed concealed carry on the premises, the university library would present no greater risk than the multitude of other places students might be required to visit when researching school projects.

In light of the fact that only one campus building is regularly utilized by the high school, there is no reason that concealed carry should be prohibited on the rest of the TAMUK campus. Despite Senator Lucio’s claims to the contrary, allowing concealed carry at TAMUK would not mandate allowing concealed carry in the high school itself, something he erroneously suggests would conflict with federal law.

While attempting to amend Senator Wentworth’s campus carry legislation, to exempt any college that houses a primary or secondary school, Senator Lucio argued, “This amendment is necessary to uphold the—quote—Gun-Free School Zones Act—unquote.” But in reality, the federal “Gun-Free School Zones Act” includes an exemption for holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses. The State of Texas already utilizes that exemption by allowing CHL holders to carry concealed handguns in the parking lots, parking garages, and outside walkways of primary and secondary schools—all locations covered by the act.

Like Senators Ellis and Gallegos, Senator Lucio needs to perform his own due diligence before repeating as fact the arguments fed to him by college administrators seeking to carry out their own political agendas.

W. Scott Lewis summed up the underlying folly of Senator Lucio’s arguments: “Opponents of campus carry want to create fear and paranoia about the prospect of allowing trained, licensed adults to carry concealed handguns in close proximity to teenagers. Yet, few parents have any reservations about dropping off their kids at a movie theater, a shopping mall, or a church—all locations where licensed concealed carry is typically allowed.”

ABOUT STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization comprising over 44,000 college students, professors, college employees, parents of college students, and concerned citizens who believe that holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else. SCCC has members in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. SCCC is not affiliated with the NRA or any other organization. SCCC extends an open invitation to publicly debate representatives from any organization or institution opposed to “campus carry.”

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Campus Carry Advocates To Texas Senator Rodney Ellis – Stop Lying

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus

Texas - -(Ammoland.com)- One opponent of Texas Senate Bill 354, which would legalize licensed concealed carry (of handguns) on Texas college campuses, has resorted to blatantly false statements to make his case.

Faced with a dearth of fact-based evidence opposing his position, Senator Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) has conjured up a fiscal boogeyman, telling anybody who’ll listen that the passage of SB 354 would cost state colleges millions in additional insurance premiums. But like most fairy tales, this one is borne out of pure fantasy.

On April 7, Senator Ellis lashed out against SB 354 on the floor of the Texas Senate. Addressing the bill’s author—Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio)—Senator Ellis proclaimed, “I’m told by the community colleges it’s going to raise their insurance costs for liability insurance, despite the fact that under your bill you say they have no liability. But you can’t stop the insurance rates from going up. I’m told that one of my community colleges—they think it’ll cost a million dollars.”

Apparently accepting Senator Ellis’s claim at face value, Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr. (D-Houston) immediately withdrew his support from the bill. A few weeks later, Gallegos told the Texas Tribune, “What’s embedded in this bill, and is not being told, is the unfunded mandate that this bill produces.”

Although Senator Ellis did not name the community college to which he referred, other sources clearly indicate that he was referring to Houston Community College. The HCC board of trustees recently passed a resolution claiming that SB 354 would create a “fiscal burden” for the institution, and Dan Arguijo, spokesman for Houston Community College, recently told the Texas Tribune that HCC’s annual insurance premiums would likely rise by as much as much as $780,000 to $900,000.

Senator Wentworth and others immediately questioned these claims, pointing out that SB 354 provides immunity to colleges, that the fiscal note attached to SB 354 makes no mention of rising insurance costs, and that none of the 71 college campuses outside of Texas that currently allow concealed carry on campus have reported a rise in insurance premiums. W. Scott Lewis, Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, asked, “On what basis are we expected to believe that college campuses will become the first and only locations in Texas to experience higher insurance rates as a result of honoring state-issued concealed handgun licenses?”

These lingering questions prompted Robert Greene —a concealed handgun instructor, former police officer, and licensed insurance agent— to do a little investigating of his own.

Mr. Greene noted, “In all my years of writing commercial insurance for businesses, schools, churches, and the like, I have never had an underwriting questionnaire ask or even allude to whether or not the insured allows CHL holders to carry on the premises. I inquired of my underwriters, and not one indicated that this had ever been an underwriting question.”

When Mr. Greene contacted Senator Ellis’s office, he was told that Austin Community College is among the institutions reporting that its insurance premiums would increase. But when Mr. Greene contacted ACC Environmental Health & Safety Coordinator Robert Rogers, the person in charge of purchasing liability insurance for the college, Mr. Rogers was adamant that he had neither spoken to anyone regarding the school’s insurance premiums nor indicated in any way that those premiums would increase if SB 354 were to pass.

Mr. Rogers even went so far as to point out that, per the Texas Tort Claims Act of 1969, colleges and universities would be immune from liability for the actions of a CHL holder because a concealed handgun license is issued by the state, not the college. He then drew a comparison to state driver’s licenses and the fact that, because colleges must let licensed drivers use the roads passing through campus, colleges are immune from liability for the actions of drivers on campus.

Mr. Greene got a similar response when he spoke to Phillip Dendy, director of risk management for the University of Texas. Mr. Dendy pointed out that that the University of Texas rarely purchases liability insurance because the university is a state entity and, for all intents and purposes, insured by the State of Texas. He concurred with Mr. Rogers’ assessment that the Texas Tort Claims Act would provide immunity to colleges and universities.

Mr. Greene then contacted United Educators Insurance Company, the insurance carrier for Houston Community College, and spoke with Marketing Manager Chris Robinson. Mr. Robinson agreed that, in light of the immunity offered by both the bill itself and the Texas Tort Claims Act, there should be no expectation that colleges will experience higher insurance premiums if SB 354 passes.

These conversations, coupled with his personal experience in the insurance business, led Mr. Greene to conclude that Senator Ellis’s claims are unfounded.

W. Scott Lewis concurred, stating, “At best, Senator Ellis has failed to do his due diligence before repeating the dubious claims of a few college officials. At worst, he has resorted to lies to try to justify an unjustifiable position.”

ABOUT STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) is a national, non-partisan, grassroots organization comprising over 44,000 college students, professors, college employees, parents of college students, and concerned citizens who believe that holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else. SCCC has members in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. SCCC is not affiliated with the NRA or any other organization. SCCC extends an open invitation to publicly debate representatives from any organization or institution opposed to “campus carry.”

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