Is campus carry still an issue?

BY Monika Garza | THE RIDER

Anthropology freshman Kathia Rodriguez said she is nervous about the campus carry law, which took effect Aug. 1 throughout university campuses in Texas.

“I am not really good with having guns near me and since they are concealed, I am more nervous,” Rodriguez said.

Senate Bill 11 states that a license holder may carry a concealed handgun on the campus of an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education in the state.

To obtain a license, applicants must complete a course, said UTRGV Police Chief Raul Munguia.

“As far as applying for license, you do that through DPS,” Munguia said. “You will end up having to take a safety course and then, you are going to demonstrate your proficiency with a weapon.”

“As far as buying a gun, you can go to gun shops, Academy or any type of sporting goods store,” he said.

In an interview with The Rider, Communication Professor Louis Falk said that the law is not an issue, it was passed and now we have to learn how to deal with it.

“Everybody was protesting and everybody was going to all those events and people in Austin, the professors [saying], ‘No, we’re not going to have it in our campus.’ That was all too little, too late,”

Falk said. “If they wanted to protest they should have done it before that.”

Hugo Rodriguez, UTRGV assistant professor for Health and Biomedical Sciences, said he does not agree with campus carry.

“Anger and anxiety makes us to do not the right decisions,” Rodriguez said. “When we have access to a weapon, it could be, sometimes, a disaster.”

Kimberly Rosas, an English senior on the Brownsville campus said that she does not agree with the campus carry law.

“I don’t think it’s justified to be able to carry a gun,” Rosas said. “I don’t think it’s secure.”

Munguia said people who are carrying concealed guns are not the ones to worry about because they have already gone through the vetting process.

Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone. The process may include looking for prior convictions, verifying licenses and checking employment history, according to the DPS website.

“The ones to worry about are the ones that have bad intentions, the ones that had not gone to the training and the ones that are carrying a gun illegally,” Munguia said.

Javier Espinoza, range master at the South Texas Tactical Weapons shooting range, offers a concealed carry course.

“The majority of the clientele that take the concealed carry course are senior citizens, college students and females that are working in a medical field,”Espinoza said.

He said the average cost of the course is $100 and the background investigation conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety is about $147.

The department sets out requirements that must be met in order to apply for a license to carry.

“In order to obtain a license to carry a concealed arm, you must be a Texas resident, you must be 21 years of age and you cannot have any felonies or any class A misdemeanors in regards to family violence,” Espinoza said.

Chief Munguia said that “open carry” is not allowed on both campuses.

Under the open carry law, which went into effect last January, individuals with a license may carry a holstered handgun openly in all locations that allow the licensed carrying of a concealed handgun.

“If you see [open carry], call us because that is a violation of the law,” Munguia said. “Even for permit holders, you cannot have a visible weapon.”

Students who see a gun in plain sight may call University Police at 882-8222 on the Brownsville campus and 665-7151 on Edinburg campus.