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September 1, 2021 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

Over 600 new laws signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott go into effect today in the state of Texas. These new laws, including the Heartbeat Bill, constitutional carry legislation, and laws that protect law enforcement, were passed during the 87th Legislative Session.

"The 87th Legislative Session was a monumental success, and many of the laws going into effect today will ensure a safer, freer, healthier, and more prosperous Texas," said Governor Abbott. "I look forward to my continued work with the legislature to build upon these successes and create an even brighter future for the Lone Star State."

A full list of new laws can be found here.

Included in the new laws are:

House Bill 9 enhances the criminal penalty to a state jail felony offense for anyone who knowingly blocks an emergency vehicle or obstructs access to a hospital or health care facility.

House Bill 103 creates an Active Shooter Alert System in Texas.

House Bill 365 creates civil liability protections for farmers and ranchers.

House Bill 547 allows home-schooled students to participate in UIL activities.

House Bill 957 repeals the criminal offense of possessing, manufacturing, transporting, or repairing a firearm silencer. It also ensures that any firearm suppressor manufactured in Texas, and that remains in Texas, will not be subject to federal law or federal regulation.

House Bill 1280 will outlaw abortion in Texas after Roe v. Wade is overturned.

House Bill 1500 prevents any government entity from prohibiting the sale or transportation of firearms or ammunition during a declared disaster or emergency.

House Bill 1900 penalizes cities that defund their police departments. The law freezes property tax revenues for cities with a population over 250,000 that defund the police. Under this law, cities that defund the police will lose their annexation powers for 10 years and any area annexed by a defunding city in the past 30 years can vote to dis-annex from the city. It also allows the State of Texas to withhold sales taxes collected by a defunding city and give it to the Texas Department of Public Safety to pay for the cost of state resources used to protect residents of a defunded municipality.

House Bill 1925 prohibits camping in public spaces.

House Bill 1927 authorizes Constitutional Carry in Texas, meaning law-abiding Texans can legally carry a handgun without a license to carry.

House Bill 2366 enhances criminal penalties for the use of laser pointers and creates an offense for the use of fireworks to harm or obstruct the police.

House Bill 2622 makes Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State by protecting Texans from new federal gun control regulations.

House Bill 3257 creates the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission.

House Bill 3712 provides increased training and transparency during the hiring process for peace officers.

Senate Bill 8 ("The Heartbeat Bill") bans abortion the moment a baby's heartbeat is detected in the womb.

Senate Bill 13 prohibits state contracts and investments with companies that boycott energy companies.

Senate Bill 19 prohibits any governmental entity from contracting with any business that discriminates against firearm and ammunition businesses or organizations.

Senate Bill 20 allows guests to store firearms in their hotel rooms.

Senate Bill 23 requires voter approval to reduce law enforcement budgets in counties with a population of more than one million. If voter approval is not received, but the county still defunds the police, the county's property tax revenue will be frozen.

Senate Bill 24 requires police departments to review files of applicants before they are hired to ensure officers with a negative history aren't passed between departments.

Senate Bill 550 removes the shoulder or belt holster requirements, allowing Texans to carry firearms in whatever kind of holster they choose.

Senate Bill 576 creates a felony offense for the smuggling of persons into Texas.

Senate Bill 768 enhances criminal penalties for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl in Texas.

Read the rest here:
Over 600 New Laws Go Into Effect Today In State of Texas - Office of the Texas Governor

Aug. 29, 2021 1:28 pm ET

Regarding Anthony Gills op-ed Economists Explain the Taliban (Aug. 26): A few weeks ago (although it seems like years), President Biden mocked Second Amendment supporters who maintain that the right to bear arms is necessary to mitigate government overreach. Mr. Biden remarked that anyone resisting the government would need jets and nuclear weaponsotherwise, he implied, they were doomed to fail in the face of a hypothetical government onslaught. But history has taught us over and over again that a determined foe can outlast a technologically superior force through sheer human will, and often with terror. The Viet Cong, Mujahedeen and Taliban are only the more recent examples.

Mr. Gills article is a reminder that we often underestimate people we dont understand, with immense consequences. It is easy to denigrate and lampoon the Taliban as a ragtag anachronism. But that anachronism just beat the worlds leading superpower.

View post:
The Taliban and the Second Amendment - The Wall Street Journal

Texans can now openly carry a handgun in public without a permit or firearms training. The permitless carry law, along with a slew of other new firearms legislation, went into effect this week as the Lone Star State joined around 20 other states as a Second Amendment sanctuary, Houston Public Media reported.

Politicians from the federal level to the local level have threatened to take guns from law-abiding citizens but we will not let that happen in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott alleged this summer after signing several of the new gun laws. Texas will always be the leader in defending the Second Amendment, which is why we built a barrier around gun rights this session.

The Texas legislature passed 666 bills which went into effect on Sept. 1, according to The Texas Tribune. This session, lawmakers passed more than 20 new laws related to firearms, with most loosening or limiting restriction on guns, reported Houston Public Media.

On the heels of a pair of mass shootings, some Texas lawmakers expected the legislative body to pass more restrictive gun laws in 2021, The Texas Tribune reported, but the opposite happened.

Earlier this year, Texas police officials including Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia encouraged lawmakers to forgo relaxing the states firearms laws, but ultimately it didnt matter, Dallas-Fort Worths NBC 5 reported.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler trolled Gov. Abbott on Twitter Wednesday when the new gun laws and Texas new abortion ban went into effect at the same time. The mayor retweeted a post from Abbott about the abortion ban, implying the governor was being disingenuous in his concern for Texans lives.

Go here to read the rest:
What is the new Texas gun law? What are the rules? - Deseret News

Mayor Turners Statement on Texas Permitless Carry Law

September 1, 2021 -- Please attribute the followingstatement to Mayor Sylvester Turner.

"House Bill 1927 is now law in Texas, allowing anyone who legally owns a gun to carry it in public without a permit or the training previously required for a permit.

As Mayor of Houston, I am very concerned that the State of Texas loosened gun laws, especially during a time of increased gun violence. Many Texans prize their Second Amendment rights, but the Second Amendment does not provide for the right of reckless endangerment.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, handgun homicide rates increase 11% and violent crime increases 13-15% in states that weaken their permitting process. Under this bill, even a law-abiding citizen can become a danger. Someone who has literally no firearms training and has never even fired a gun could legally carry a gun. They could become a danger to themselves and others due to mishandling a deadly weapon.

Not only are underserved and poor communities disproportionately impacted by an unrelenting spate of homicides and gun crimes, but law enforcement officials are less safe.

With increasing gun crimes on the rise nationwide, adding more unregulated firearms in the population will not increase public safety. Law enforcement is clear on that.

This flawed new law will have a harmful impact inside our neighborhoods and on our streets. Unregulated guns aggravate our public safety problems.

My administration seeks to increase public safety and build trust among Houstonians. That work will continue despite the harmful effects of HB 1927.

Houstons Youth Violence Plan, spearheaded by the Houston Health Department, aims to address the root causes of violence and promote opportunities for prevention through evidence-based crime prevention solutions.

I join the many Houstonians who are not happy with the elimination of gun permitting and the associated basic firearm safety training.

Read the original here:
Press Releases - City of Houston

Texas law enforcement opposed passage of House Bill 1927, the new law in Texas that allows people to start carrying a handgun in public without a permit. The law goes into effect Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Theres a new phrase in the lexicon to describe the latest gun right. Its called permitless carry, wording that conveniently omits the word gun or firearm. Pro-gun groups call it Constitutional Carry.

What is patriotic about more people carrying guns into public places?

It seems odd at first glance that Republican leaders who aggressively pushed for the further loosening of the states gun laws would act despite the near-universal opposition of police chiefs, sheriffs, and others who spoke out against the legislation and tend to be politically conservative.

On the other hand, anytime politicians can claim to be defending the Second Amendment issue, no matter how cynical that play may be, they are animating hard-right Republican primary voters.

Responsible law enforcement leaders, sadly, are no match for Republican primary voters when it comes to how elected officials set their priorities. Self-interest, unfortunately, trumps the public interest.

You could say that I signed into law today some laws that protect gun rights, Abbott was quoted as saying as he signed the bill into law in June. But today, I signed documents that instilled freedom in the Lone Star State.

I do not feel freer as Sept. 1 approaches, Governor. I feel dread. We already see the effect of gunplay in this state in road rage incidents, late night/early morning shootouts at bars by alcohol-fueled patrons, and the terrible outcomes when mentally disturbed individuals can get their hands on guns. What happens when protestors line up against one another, and tempers flare?

Law enforcement here and nationwide also has traditionally opposed the sale and legal possession of assault weapons, but that has had no effect on the many red-state legislatures, even after repeat incidents of mass shootings at schools, stores, churches, and other gathering places.

When it comes down to it, its just a sense of disappointment that the bill ultimately was passed, Kevin Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, told the Texas Tribune.

There was some pretense on the eve of the 2021 legislative session among Republican state leaders to promise tightened gun laws and improved background checks, with the peoples memories still fresh of mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick both offered rhetorical assurances.

Instead, the states ruling party supported multiple bills that make it even easier to legally brandish a gun in public. Anyone 21 years or older who doesnt have a felony or domestic violence record will be free to carry a gun. A training course on gun safety is not required. Just get your gun and start packing.

How many Texans will pack a gun, come Sept. 1, in their vehicles, their carry bags and purses, or on their bodies? Why do we need guns to live our daily lives? What purpose will drive people to carry a handgun as if it were, like a smartphone or wallet, part of being dressed and ready to go?

The new law is the most concerning of multiple pro-gun laws passed this session, but it is not the only one. Seven pro-gun-rights bills were signed by Abbott. House Bill 957 paves the way for the manufacture and sale of Made in Texas suppressors, a law intended to serve as a workaround for federal laws restricting ownership of silencers. Why would any law-abiding citizen need a silencer on his or her firearm?

House Bill 2622 is posited as a Second Amendment law, one freeing Texas personnel and resources from (enforcement of) federal gun-related laws enacted after January 19, 2021, that are not in Texas law.If an entity or agency violates the provision and tries to help enforce future federal gun laws, that entity will be denied state funding.

I am unfamiliar with state laws that negate federal laws. Not surprisingly, so are federal law enforcement authorities who have warned would-be users they can be prosecuted if caught in possession of a firearm silencer.

This is Texas on its current path of extreme politics playing to a small but influential percentage of voters in this highly gerrymandered state where the views of a majority of citizens can be ignored by officeholders.

What to do? Teach your children: Be careful and walk away from confrontation.

See the original post here:
New gun laws in Texas will surely lead to more gun violence - San Antonio Report