Texans disagree on the effects of conceal/carry
Updated: 04-28-2003 10:53:49 PM
Minnesota has a new, highly controversial conceal and carry law. Texans have lived with a similar conceal and carry law for almost eight years.
The Texas Department of Public Safety doesn't monitor gun crime, so it's tough to tell statistically how the concealed gun law has fared there.
But there’s no shortage of opinion on the issue. Texas state representative Suzanna Hupp has long been a fervent supporter of her state’s conceal/carry law. She said, "It saves lives, that's it in a nut shell, it saves lives."
In the 7 years since then Governor George W. Bush made it legal for people to carry concealed handguns, she says gun violence has gone down.
She said, "We heard that there would be blood in the streets and that it would be Dodge City all over again, that simply hasn't occurred."
Hupp has very personal reasons for backing conceal/carry. She was eating lunch with her parents at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, when a man drove through the door and started shooting.
That was before the law. She said, "At the time in the state of Texas we didn't have the ability to be able to protect ourselves from nuts like that."
People were killed, including Hupp's parents. Her handgun, that she argues could've saved their lives, was in its only legal place at the time...her pickup truck.
Nina Butts is with an organization called Texans Against Gun Violence. Nina Butts has a completely different take on the law.
She said, "The concealed handgun law has been a complete disaster here in Texas."
She says conceal/carry has made Texas a more dangerous place, and has nothing to do with public safety.
She said, "The purpose of the concealed handgun law in Texas and in every state is to promote and sell handguns."
What will happen in Minnesota when conceal carry becomes law remains to be seen.
But if it's anything like Texas, it will always depend on who you ask.
