HOUSTON — Under the new law, Texans of legal age can now carry guns without a permit but the weapon must be concealed or in a holster.
Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia led a discussion Wednesday on the concerns surrounding the new law. The panel consisted of law enforcement officials and domestic violence advocates, among others.
"And now, the good ole' Wild West is back with us again," Garcia said.
Angelica Halphen's 18-year-old son was killed in a road rage incident on Halloween in 2019. She said her son, Harrison, was driving a friend home when he was shot. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died days later.
"They got into an altercation with another young man ... lost his temper earlier with a bunch of trick-or-treaters ... shot my son in the head," she said.
She said the shooter had no experience with guns.
"Who was not a criminal. Lived with mom and his sister. He bought the gun legally but he had no training and he wasn’t mature enough. So, that's my concern," she said. "This is not a statistic. This is a person. When he died, I died, and I fight every day. I resigned from HISD after 29 years. I fight to get up in the morning."
Halphen and others in the community said they fear guns will fall into the wrong hands.
"Untrained and potentially dangerous individuals ... will be able to openly carry weapons in our community," Garcia said.
Law enforcement officials want people to make sure they understand the law before doing anything that could put themselves or others in danger.
"Make sure you that you understand the law and make sure you get trained to use that weapon," a Harris County Sheriff's Office representative said.
The new law says that if the gun is not concealed, it must be in a holster.
Law enforcement officials said gun owners need to properly secure their weapons and keep them out of their cars in order to keep them out of the hands of criminals.
"You need to understand what you are doing so the right decision is made instead of the wrong decision," HPD Executive Assistant Chief Larry Satterwhite.
Garcia & Mom's Demand Action say business owners who are worried about people carrying guns inside their establishments may have to post new signage.
The Texas Council on Family Violence released the following statement on the Firearm Carry Act.
Today, the Texas Council on Family Violence, alongside domestic violence agencies, survivors and public health and safety partners across our State, are filled with apprehension as the “Firearm Carry Act of 2021” goes into effect.
Domestic violence and firearms are a proven lethal mix, and the statistics are heartbreaking.
- The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by as much as 500%.
- Safety risks increased for survivors within the first year of the pandemic, compared to the prior year, resulting in a 10% increase in victims contacting law enforcement, and a 60% increase in firearms present at the scene when law enforcement arrived.
- Over the past 10 years, the number of women murdered by an intimate partner with a firearm in Texas has nearly doubled.
Texas Council on Family Violence supports lawful, responsible firearm ownership as a basic right. We are not advocating for additional restrictions to firearm access; we are ardently advocating for our state and courts to implement the existing laws meant to protect victims of family violence from firearms-related fatalities. Without these laws being upheld or enforced by our courts and our counties, Texas is at best offering a false promise to domestic violence victims and at worst completely abandoning protection of them.