TexasCHLforum.com

June 2, 2015

Dear UNT community members,

As you know, Texas’ Legislature has passed new legislation that will allow licensed gun owners to carry concealed handguns on campus.

This new legislation includes the benefit of exercising local control, and we will use that control to continue to do everything we can to provide a safe and secure environment for our students, faculty, staff and visitors.

While passage of the law is not what we had hoped for, we are now reviewing the legislation thoroughly to ensure that we fully understand our latitude in developing regulations for carrying concealed handguns on campus.

We will spend our time prior to Fall 2016 planning our implementation response, and consulting with all faculty, staff and students who have interest in or have raised concerns about this legislation.

I also will consult extensively with other campus leaders and police groups in Texas to better understand the additional costs and training associated with this bill. And, I will ask our police department and other units on campus to provide training and guidance to our community to help them understand how to personally respond in this new environment.

In the coming year, we will conduct a thorough and thoughtful process, and I assure all of our students and their families, faculty and staff members, and visitors that we remain committed to providing the best educational experience in Texas in a safe campus community.

UNT Proud,
Neal Smatresk

joelamosobadiah wrote:

TexasJohnBoy wrote:

joelamosobadiah wrote:

Scott Farkus wrote:

TexasJohnBoy wrote:It's really sad they are taking that stance on it. This is a big step forward, maybe not as big as we want or need, but it's a good one.

Agreed. No way this is not a huge victory for gun rights, especially considering this thing was literally minutes away from dying just a few days ago. And I don't think the "loophole" is going to be as large as many anti's are trying to spin it. From what I saw of the debate, Legislative intent is pretty clear and I don't think they'll tolerate a whole lot of nonsense. We'll just have to see.

I think when your platform is as narrow as SCCC is then it's difficult to accept the step forward even when it's much smaller than you were hoping for and smaller than what you expected at one point in the process.

Perhaps, but I still think it's bad practice to declare defeat when you just got 80% of what you wanted.

I agree with the first part. I think the message posted above was the wrong tone to take. Be thankful for advancements made, acknowledge defeats, make assurances of further work with university administration and legislatures moving forward. That, IMO, is a winning formula. I don't agree however that they achieved 80% of what their goal was, but none of us will until we see how the changes are implemented by administrations

v7a wrote:Someone should extract a clip of Birdwell establishing legislative intent yesterday on the Senate floor. Then we burn that to DVD and send it to all the university presidents

joelamosobadiah wrote:

Scott Farkus wrote:

TexasJohnBoy wrote:It's really sad they are taking that stance on it. This is a big step forward, maybe not as big as we want or need, but it's a good one.

Agreed. No way this is not a huge victory for gun rights, especially considering this thing was literally minutes away from dying just a few days ago. And I don't think the "loophole" is going to be as large as many anti's are trying to spin it. From what I saw of the debate, Legislative intent is pretty clear and I don't think they'll tolerate a whole lot of nonsense. We'll just have to see.

I think when your platform is as narrow as SCCC is then it's difficult to accept the step forward even when it's much smaller than you were hoping for and smaller than what you expected at one point in the process.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

TexasJohnBoy wrote:What are the chances of a committee on SB11 working just as quickly? I guess the House has to appoint their conferees first....

Very good.

Chas.

Stripes Dude wrote:

safety1 wrote:

Stripes Dude wrote:Anyone know when the committees are meeting?

Better be today..........

So you don't have faith politicians will work over the weekend?