YCT LEGE PRIORITY ALERT: CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS BILLS FILED
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2013
Contact: Jeramy Kitchen, Senior Vice Chairman
Mobile: (281) 615-6292
Email: [email protected]
AUSTIN, TX — Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) would like to applaud State Senator Brian Birdwell and State Representatives Allen Fletcher and Giovanni Capriglione for filing Concealed Carry on Campus bills for the 83rd Legislative Session. Concealed Carry on Campus is YCT’s number one legislative priority, and votes relating to these and other bills on the issue will assuredly be included in our post-session ratings.
“We believe that it’s time our state government gave CHL holders the trust they’ve earned,” said YCT State Chairman Jeff Morris. “According to statistics of our own Department of Public Safety, CHL holders accounted for less than .2% of all crimes in Texas over the last decade. Our state’s best citizens are CHL holders and we need to end this needlessly dangerous prohibition on where they can exercise their 2nd Amendment rights.”
Gun-control advocates continually attempt to conflate the issue of Concealed Carry on Campus to distort reality. Instead of acknowledging that any CHL holder, including a college student, must be at least 21 years old with a clean criminal history, be of sound mind, be free of chemical dependence, be eligible to purchase a handgun in accordance with federal and state law, and has completed a required training course, these gun-control advocates utilize scare tactics to incite fear of unruly, young armed college students running amok. Statistics do not back up these absurd fantasies.
In past sessions, there has been similar legislation filed by numerous authors; however, it has never successfully made it out of both chambers of the State Legislature and to the Governor’s desk for final approval.
“Concealed Carry on Campus is a commonsense bill that empowers law-abiding citizens—who have gone through extraordinary requirements to become licensed—to protect themselves in times of danger on campus,” said YCT Senior Vice Chairman Jeramy Kitchen. “It is unconscionable for the government to deny college students their 2nd Amendment rights, forcing them to walk across campus at any hour of the night defenseless, while legislators may carry concealed weapons anywhere within the Capitol Complex.”
YCT is proud to support Senator Birdwell and Representatives Fletcher and Capriglione as they take a stand for the rights of our membership and all Texas college students.
YCT PAC is the political arm of Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan organization which has promoted conservatism at universities across the Lone Star State for over three decades. The State’s most active political youth organization, YCT is composed of hundreds of members and alumni who participate in the full spectrum of politics. YCT issues the most respected ratings of the Texas legislature and is the only conservative group to have done so without interruption over the past 19 legislative sessions. For a full list of YCT’s endorsements, please visit www.YCT.org/endorsements.
###