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Opinion

This is what police fear will happen if permitless carry becomes law in Texas

Some officers fear “constitutional carry” will make their jobs more dangerous.

Backers of a bill that would make it legal for Texans to carry handguns without a license describe the legislation as “constitutional carry.” The author of the bill, Republican Matt Schaefer of Tyler, called it “common sense carry.”

“Law-abiding citizens need the ability to protect themselves and their families,” Schaefer said.

Schaefer and his allies can call permitless carry whatever they want, but their labels can’t conceal what for so many law enforcement officers is plain to see: This bill will make their jobs harder and more dangerous.

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Currently, Texans can carry handguns in public with a license. The state requires first-time applicants to take a course that covers gun safety, nonviolent conflict resolution and laws on the use of deadly force. Applicants also must pass a written exam and a shooting proficiency test and undergo a criminal background check. License holders’ criminal history is checked again for permit renewals.

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If Schaefer’s bill becomes law — and we hope it doesn’t — Texans age 21 and older who can legally have a handgun can tote one publicly without having to meet these requirements. Felons and people convicted of certain domestic violence misdemeanors will still be banned from possessing a handgun, but if these people were to illegally acquire a handgun and carry it in public, they will blend in with law-abiding gun owners who are no longer required to have a permit.

Under state law, handgun license holders who are carrying their weapon must produce both a driver’s license and their license to carry when a peace officer asks to see an ID. If Texas adopts permitless carry, police will have a harder time figuring out who should or shouldn’t have a handgun, said Kevin Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association.

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For instance, if an officer patrolling overnight stops someone with a handgun who is acting suspiciously, the person won’t necessarily have to produce a handgun permit.

“You’d have to do the vetting process right there. You’d have to run their criminal history and find out whether they have convictions that would disqualify them [from having a handgun]. ... It’s a time-consuming, dangerous process at three o’clock in the morning,” Lawrence told us.

Other law enforcement officials, including Dallas Police Chief Eddie García, have expressed concerns about people walking around in public with handguns that they don’t know how to handle, which could lead to accidents.

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Lawrence said he and other officers object to the term “constitutional carry” or the notion that having any restrictions on carrying handguns is a violation of the Second Amendment.

“Nobody, nobody really and truly believes that everybody should be allowed to carry a gun,” he said.

This newspaper supports the Second Amendment, and we don’t find that support incompatible with the desire to minimize risk to law enforcement officers and the public at large. The permitless carry bill has been cast as an effort to make us safer, but don’t let the political noise drown out the voices of police who are warning us that this bill will do the opposite.