The Republican governor of Texas on Wednesday signed into law a bill allowing people to carry firearms in public without a permit, the latest in a series of measures expanding gun rights in conservative states across the US.
This law, passed in May by a Republican-dominated Senate and House of Representatives in this southern state, allows anyone aged 21 or over who is not prohibited from owning a firearm to carry one in public without a permit. It is due to come into force on 1 September. The text considers that the Constitutions of the United States and Texas authorise citizens to carry firearms and that, consequently, there should be fewer obstacles in this area.
Governor Greg Abbott plans to preside over an enactment ceremony on Thursday, according to the Texas Tribune. He had indicated that he would sign the law into law if it passed both houses. "This is something that about twenty other states have passed, and it's time for Texas to pass it too", he said in April on local radio station WBAP.
22 supermarket deaths in 2019
But opponents, particularly Democrats in Texas and across the country, argued that relaxing gun rules would generate more violence. They cited as examples the shooting in the Texas capital Austin that left one person dead and thirteen injured last week, as well as the shooting in an El Paso supermarket in 2019 that left 22 people dead and 23 injured.
Veronica Escobar, a Texas member of the US House of Representatives, said on Wednesday that Greg Abbott had "chosen to betray the victims of gun violence" by enacting the law.
"Despite strong support for legislation to prevent gun violence, Republicans, led by a cowardly governor, are more interested in getting the attention of the gun lobby than they are in preventing gun violence and honoring the victims and survivors in El Paso and across Texas," she tweeted.
On Monday, Representative Vikki Goodwin called on the Governor to veto the law following the shooting in Austin. "We must intervene to break this vicious circle", she said.
Text by Lematin.ch AFP
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