Agree. State universities are not too far removed from governments and should not be statutorily allowed to prevent the free exercise of our rights.RoyGBiv wrote:Educators should not have the final word on whether anyone can exercise their 2A rights. They are unqualified to hold such sway. Their priorities do not align with protecting my rights, nor does their mindset (generally). As we can see in the real world, there are only a handful of places where educators have exercised their authority to allow license holders to carry in grade schools and even then I don't know of any place in Texas that permits non-employee license holders to carry. Handing this decision over to educators has, in the past, served only to maintain a de-facto ban. It has been a legislative cop-out. A way to say "see, we did our part but The Chancellor/Superintendent/School Board won't allow it". I understand the political and media realities behind it. Doesn't make it any less disappointing.
It took us a while to prevent government from infringing on concealed carry on government property, but the lessons learned there did not translate to schools and colleges.
We'll see how this Bill turns out in real life. It'll be a solid step forward, assuming the Legislature follows up their "intent" with action. I'm betting that until we put some clearer boundaries and teeth in the law, ala SB 273, the de-facto ban will linger.
Hopefully SB 11 is the crack in the dam.
I seem to recall that someone posted that private universities also accept government funding in many forms. Grants, government funded tuition, and other monies as well. Any private university that receives such funds should not be statutorily allowed to prevent the free exercise of our rights. Hiding behind the "private property" rights claim is cowardly and should not be tolerated. Either an institution is 100% privately funded or else it is public. No gray areas when it comes to freedom or self defense.
In addition, if these private institutions want to hide behind the private property opt out provisions, then they should be required to go above and beyond what is generally considered the norm in providing protection for students, faculty, and visitors. As in all cases, these places are just victim zones.