Guest Post: A Tragic ‘Joke’

By Kat Vargas

The tragic murder-suicide of a family carried out by its two sons–one 19, the other 21–in Allen, TX on April 5 is the second to be linked to the city in as many years. It’s the third in Collin County to make national headlines since 2017. 

“Gun control in the US is a joke…The question asking if he had any mental illnesses…he lied,” wrote the teenage brother who carried out the shooting as a suicide pact with his older brother in Allen. “Thanks for making the process so easy.”

Heartbreaking words.

Sen. Angela Paxton made no statement on the tragedy but was quick to share her support for dangerous, permitless carry bills being pushed through the legislature. Her social media posts ended a nearly two-year silence regarding guns since a white terrorist from the district drove 600 miles to murder 23 people in El Paso. Collin County officials have yet to introduce or support a single piece of legislation that would actually address the gun violence epidemic.

Permitless carry bills aren’t even popular amongst voters, making the push even more astonishing. Recent polling conducted by SurveyUSA shows 81% of Texans, including 79% of gun-owning households and 79% of Republicans, support requiring a permit to carry a handgun in public in Texas. Large police associations and law enforcement officials from Dallas to Houston to El Paso have held press conferences in opposition to permitless carry. Religious leaders, teachers, LTC instructors, and more have all decried the bills being pushed. Then why is the party of “back the blue ” and “sanctity of life” abandoning their senses to appease Allen West and FBI-labeled extremists groups? 

“Poll after poll clearly shows that across party lines, everyone–Democrats, Republicans, and gun owners alike–support our License-to-Carry system, and no one wants permitless carry. That is, except for the morally and financially bankrupt gun lobby and their extremist lackeys in the legislature,” said Liz Hanks, a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Texans are seeing every day the toll gun violence is taking on our state, whether it’s mass shootings, gun suicide, daily gun violence, police violence, and more. We want policies that will end gun violence–not those that could make it worse.” 

Why are permitless carry bills so dangerous? Not only would it allow people to carry handguns, openly or concealed, in public without a permit, background check, or safety training, but we have the data showing the effects of these measures. States that have weakened their permitting safeguards have experienced an 11% increase in handgun homicide rates and a 13-15% increase in overall violent crimes. In states like Alaska, the increase in aggravated assaults involving a firearm has increased an astonishing 65% since eliminating their permitting system in 2003. 

Still, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick admitted there were “not enough votes in the Senate to pass a permitless carry bill,” just days later, in the middle of session, he formed a new Senate Special Committee on “Constitutional Issues.” The only bill it’s scheduled to hear? HB 1927–which not only completely dismantles our permitting system, but includes a “mistake clause” that would force schools and other prohibited spaces to give verbal or written notice to armed individuals to leave the premises before a penalty applies if they refuse. The intention is to protect someone who “simply forgets” that federal and state law prohibits carrying a firearm into sensitive spaces–such ignorance and lack of awareness itself apparently not a disqualifier to a person’s ability to carry. 

In the last two weekends alone, multiple children in the DFW metroplex have died as the result of unintentional shootings related to lack of proper storage highlighting the need for more safety training, not total elimination. 

HB 1927 is just one of many permitless bills being jammed through the House and Senate and we need all hands on deck to fight this.

You can text TEXAS to 644-33 to be connected to key senators expected to be deciding votes and tell them to vote no to ALL permitless carry bills.