Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has vetoed a bill that would have allowed local authorities to bring charges against people who carry a gun into a secure area of a Texas airport, the Texas Tribune reported.
Federal law already makes it illegal for a person or airport employee to have a weapon on secure parts of the airport tarmac. Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchía wanted to give state officials the same jurisdiction as federal agents in such a case.
But Abbott balked, writing it would “impose an unacceptable restraint on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding travelers.”
“The Legislature may have intended simply to keep firearms off the tarmac, but the bill as drafted would newly prohibit carrying in any part of the airport terminal building, even ahead of the TSA inspection checkpoint,” Abbott wrote.
Anchía had said police at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport “asked for this bill,” and that the city of Dallas, the Houston Police Department and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas all were supportive. Gun rights groups Open Carry Texas and Gun Owners of America opposed the bill at hearings, the news outlet reported.
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