“Texas once more lowers restrictions on sure firearms, passes on rules” was first revealed by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media group that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public coverage, politics, authorities and statewide points.
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Texas lawmakers handed one other set of payments making it simpler for gun house owners to entry and preserve firearms, and expanded the sorts of weapons they’ll entry.
The push for looser rules on firearms comes at a time when firearms are the main reason for demise amongst youngsters in the US, passing automotive accidents, most cancers and overdoses. A latest examine from the Journal of the American Medical Affiliation has additionally linked “permissive” gun laws to increased charges of gun deaths amongst youngsters, with the examine itemizing Texas as one of the permissive states.
In the meantime, laws that sought to curb entry to weapons acquired little consideration this session, a return to its roots after a small victory for gun management advocates in 2023, when a Home committee handed a invoice that will have raised the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21. The invoice finally missed a key deadline to succeed in the Home flooring.
The payments handed which might be ready for approval from Gov. Greg Abbott symbolize a continued effort to make gun possession simpler for residents. This is what to know.
Proscribing protecting orders out and in of Texas
Senate Invoice 1362 goals to forestall excessive danger safety orders in civil circumstances from getting used to confiscate weapons from folks. The safety orders may be offered by civil judges after due course of hearings to quickly bar sure folks from proudly owning or buying firearms if they’re discovered to be a direct hazard.
Twenty-one states have statutes, often called “crimson flag legal guidelines,” allowing the safety orders. Texas would not have a crimson flag legislation, and SB 1362 ensures that it will not be part of the states that do.
Purple flag legal guidelines have existed in varied states since 1999, and permit petitions to civil judges that request momentary removing of an individual’s firearms after an evidentiary listening to. The orders are largely reserved for circumstances involving excessive dangers of home violence or suicide, however opponents of crimson flag legal guidelines have mentioned they might be abused by folks levying false accusations or “rogue” judges, and are broadly unconstitutional.
Proponents of crimson flag legal guidelines like Nicole Golden, govt director of Texas Gun Sense, say these fears aren’t based mostly in precise cases and stave off orders that would save lives.
“These are eventualities that aren’t actual,” Golden mentioned. “[There’s] plenty of fear-based dialogue.”
Purple flag legal guidelines have lengthy been a sore spot amongst conservative lawmakers in Texas. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn acquired criticism from state officers in 2022 as he pushed for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in Congress, which included grants for crimson flag legal guidelines. SB 1362 prevents any federal funding from getting used for enforcement of any safety orders, however Texas has used thousands and thousands of grant cash from the act for psychological well being applications and mass violence preparation.
Texas judges can subject safety orders in circumstances with felony prices, however SB 1362 forbids them in any civil case and makes it a felony for any official to try to implement one. That restriction would prolong to Texas legislation enforcement who implement out-of-state orders. SB 1362 additionally states any safety order from federal judges in Texas will “don’t have any impact” if deemed unconstitutional.
Entry to short-barrel firearms
Quick-barrel firearms are rifles with barrels shorter than 16 inches and shotguns with barrels shorter than 18 inches, in line with Texas statute. Senate Invoice 1596 will enable short-barrel firearms to be authorized in Texas with out registration with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Whereas nonetheless a federal offense if unregistered, SB 1596 removes any state-level penalties for proudly owning unregistered short-barrel weapons. A 2023 coverage change from the ATF reclassified pistols with stabilizing braces as short-barrel firearms, making firearms already owned by some unlawful with out registration.
Opponents of the invoice expressed considerations over how a lot simpler it’s to hide brief barrel firearms due to their smaller measurement. A brief-barrel shotgun was utilized in a 2018 faculty taking pictures in Santa Fe, Texas, that left eight college students and two academics lifeless. The shooter, a highschool pupil enrolled on the faculty, used the short-barrel weapon that was legally owned by his father.
Gun buybacks and native management
Additionally on the legislative chopping block this session are gun buyback applications as Senate Invoice 3053 constitutes an entire ban on the initiatives. Buyback applications enable residents of counties or cities to promote undesirable or unused firearms to native legislation enforcement, which proponents say are one of many methods native communities may help cut back gun violence.
SB 3053 is evident in its goal, banning any metropolis or county from taking part in applications aiming to take away firearms from circulation or cut back the variety of firearms owned by civilians. Buyback applications should not the best method at lowering gun violence, Golden says, however an vital choice native municipalities need to spark dialog about secure use and disposal of firearms.
“I’ll say, once you have a look at what the info says about what works, what actually reduces gun violence, gun buybacks should not up there,” Golden mentioned. “However on the similar time, we’ve seen cities do these buyback applications that had been profitable, folks have mentioned, ‘I’ve a gun in my residence, I accumulate, I used to be given one or I inherited it, I don’t know what to do with it. I don’t need it.’ You already know, you want a secure place to carry it.”
Looser rules on handgun licenses
A handful of payments handed aimed to make state licensing for handguns simpler to amass and preserve. Home Invoice 668 extends the deadline to resume a handgun license from its expiration date to its first anniversary, and Home Invoice 1234 gives a course of for license candidates to attraction medical denials.
Senate Invoice 706 permits Texas to acknowledge handgun licenses from different states, generally often called a reciprocity legislation, and builds on preexisting agreements with different states. Texas at the moment has some type of settlement with all however 4 states and several other American territories, in line with the state Division of Public Security.
Texas legalized constitutional carry in 2021, which means residents do not want a license to hold a handgun if they don’t seem to be prohibited by different legal guidelines from doing so. Subsequent laws making licenses simpler to acquire have been framed by opponents as redundant or pointless.
“Why are we frightened a couple of one month time frame it could take for somebody to get a license?” Sen. Nathan Johnson mentioned whereas discussing HB 1234. “Does it nearly strike of whining? They will have a gun anyway.”
Handgun licensing does carry advantages, and permits handgun-carrying in locations that particularly require licenses and in different states with reciprocity agreements.
Gun reform and management payments not handed
Different payments that will have considerably widened the supply of firearms weren’t picked up by legislators. Home Invoice 1794, which the Home handed 83-50, would have permitted the hid carry of handguns into polling locations throughout election season. Home Invoice 2470 would have lowered the age required for handgun licenses from 21 to 18, though constitutional carry at the moment permits adults over 18 to personal handguns.
Payments that will have restricted entry acquired little to no consideration from lawmakers this session, a distinction from 2023, when two mass shootings in Allen and Uvalde pulled legislators’ consideration towards Texas’ firearm rules. The temporary assist for the “increase the age” invoice got here days after a mass taking pictures at a North Texas mall and a yr after a gunman in Uvalde killed 19 college students and two academics at Robb Elementary College.
This session, Home Invoice 1556 was the designated “increase the age” invoice, filed by Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso. The invoice by no means acquired a listening to.
Correction, : A earlier model of this story incorrectly said the variety of youngsters killed within the mass taking pictures at Robb Elementary College in Uvalde. Nineteen college students died.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/18/texas-legislature-gun-restrictions/.
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