Texas is a pro-gun state, but it’s kind of a miracle. With so many large urban centers, it’s fortunate that they can’t quite drown out the rest of the state’s more sensible voters on issues like guns.
San Antonio, for example, is a big city, and it’s a city that seems to think that handguns shouldn’t be allowed in city hall. They had signs up and everything.
The astute among you will notice the use of the past tense there. That’s for a reason.
A noticeable change at San Antonio City Hall is raising questions after the city removed signs that had banned licensed handgun owners from entry points, allowing licensed gun owners into City Council meetings.
For years, 30.06 and 30.07 signs restricting firearms were posted at every entrance of City Hall. Those signs, which had been posted since 2015, are now gone.
The city made the change after the Texas attorney general’s office sent a letter saying San Antonio was improperly excluding licensed handgun holders from open meetings. The letter states the attorney general received citizen complaints about license holders being denied access to City Council meetings.
District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte said the city was notified it must allow licensed carriers into public spaces such as City Council meetings. “We got notified by our state government that if you are licensed to carry a weapon, you should be allowed to bring those weapons into spaces like this, which are public spaces, city council meetings,” Whyte said.
Whyte said the city must follow the requirement, whether a weapon is concealed or holstered. He added, “Folks will, I guess, sit in a certain section and abide by whatever our police officers’ rules are, that’s the way we’re going to proceed.”
Some on the city council are less than pleased by the change, but it doesn’t sound like they had much of a choice. They shouldn’t have had much of a choice, either.
I get why some people on the council don’t like the idea of guns in the meetings. These meetings can become tense as it is, and if someone intends to harm a council member, this is a good time and place to find them. I get it.
But, on the same token, people have a right to protect themselves. The city council isn’t special. They’re elected officials, not a local aristocracy. They don’t warrant special treatment, especially when it comes to civil liberties. Just like they have to let people speak, even when they don’t want to listen, they have to allow people to protect themselves by carrying a firearm.
If the council members are worried, they should carry guns themselves and learn how to use them in self-defense.
But restricting them was never going to fly.
San Antonio made the correct decision to listen, rather than trigger a massive lawsuit they’d most definitely lose, all so they can pretend they’re safe and sound when they were never any such thing.
Now, though, regular folks can be safe, not just at the meetings, but before and after as they travel throughout the city.
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