Texas
Texas has weak gun laws. The state does not require a person to pass a criminal background check before purchasing a firearm from an unlicensed seller. In 2021, the state also eliminated the requirement that a person obtain a permit before carrying concealed handguns in public, meaning that a person in Texas can get a gun and carry it concealed in public without ever passing a criminal background check or taking firearm training. Texas also allows people with carry licenses to carry concealed firearms on college and university campuses. Texas even allows some staff and teachers to carry firearms in K-12 schools.
To become a safer state, Texas can improve its gun laws in many ways, including by requiring background checks on all firearm sales, repealing its permitless law, requiring domestic abusers prohibited from possessing firearms to relinquish the firearms they own, and enacting an Extreme Risk law to empower loved ones or law enforcement to intervene in order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing firearms.
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As Texas 2023 Legislation Session Wraps Up, Following 21 Mass Shootings in the State Since the New Year, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond
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