January 28, 2015 5:35 PM

Lt Gov. Patrick goes on offense on guns and moves forward with campus carry legislation

Patrick fast-tracks campus carry after open carry advocates blasted him for his assessment of the will of the Senate; Open Carry Tarrant County says “it’s time to hunt down the Republicans who don’t support the Constitution…”

After taking some heat from advocates of doing away with virtually all restrictions on firearms – the “open carry” crowd – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday moved to fast-track legislation that would allow people with CHL’s to carry their handguns on college campuses.

"I sent the Campus Carry bill to the State Affairs Committee for a full public hearing. The bill author already has 19 Senate co-authors which, because of last week's rule changes, is enough to bring it to the floor for passage,” Patrick pointed out. “Once passed we will forward the bill to the Texas House as quickly as constitutionally allowed.”

Meantime, advocates of what’s called “open carry” – there’s also a thing called “constitutional carry” – have expressed anger at Patrick because he said this week there are not enough votes in the Senate to bring “open carry” to the floor for a debate.

“Second Amendment rights are very important, but open carry does not reach to the level of prioritizing at this point,” Patrick said in an interview.

Open Carry Tarrant County, a group that’s made national news by intimidating motorists in North Texas as well as patrons at restaurants, were instantly outraged. “What?!?!!? Not enough support for the Constitution? The job they swore to uphold? We have 20 Republican Senators. Are they listening to lobbyist and gun organizations who are pro money?…. or the people?” the group asked.

By Scott Braddock