Fact-check: Can Texans 'too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public' now carry?

Nusaiba Mizan, Austin American-Statesman
·8 min read
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Beto O'Rourke: "38,000 Texans had their license to carry denied, revoked, or suspended over the last five years because law enforcement deemed them too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public. But thanks to Greg Abbott's new law, they don't need a license to carry anymore."

PolitiFact Texas ruling: Mostly False

Here's why: Many Texas officials were present as Gov. Greg Abbott held a May 25 news conference one day after a shooter killed two teachers and 19 children at an elementary school in Uvalde. Democraticgubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke rose from the audience and approached the stage.

"This is on you," O'Rourke told Abbott, his Republican opponent in the November election. "Unless you choose to do something different, this will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed, just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday."

O'Rourke, who endorsed the mandatory buy-back of military-style rifles when he ran for president in 2020, has continued to criticize pro-gun policies adopted by Texas' Republican leadership.

On May 29, he tweeted, "38,000 Texans had their license to carry denied, revoked, or suspended over the last five years because law enforcement deemed them too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public. But thanks to Greg Abbott's new law, they don't need a license to carry anymore."

Is he right that people "too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public" no longer need a license to carry?

O'Rourke's sources

When we reached out for sources, O'Rourke's campaign pointed us to Texas Department of Public Safety data reports onlicense to carry applications denied, licenses revoked, andlicenses suspended.

PolitiFact Texas contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety multiple times regarding permitless carry requirements but did not receive an answer.

The campaign said the tweet was about House Bill 1927, one of many laws loosening gun restrictions that went into effect in 2021. That law allows people 21 years or older to carry a firearm without a license, except for those prohibited by federal and state law from possessing a firearm.

The Department of Public Safety has data on licenses by calendar and fiscal year. When you add up the numbers for the past five fiscal years, there were nearly 35,000 licenses denied, suspended or revoked.

In a follow-up phone call with O'Rourke's campaign, a spokesperson said the 38,000 statistic mistakenly encompasses six years, not five.For fiscal years 2016-21, about 38,000 applications and licenses were denied, suspended or revoked.

So, O'Rourke's range of years was off by a year.

Can people 'deemed too dangerous by law enforcement to carry a loaded gun' now carry?

PolitiFact Texas reached out to law experts to look at the second aspect of his claim: people who have had their handgun license denied, revoked or suspended now do not need a license to carry a handgun.

Effective September 2021, the law no longer requires people to obtain a license to carry a concealed or holstered handgun in most public spaces in Texas. Obtaining a DPS-issued license requires applicants to pass a background check, complete a gun safety course, and meet specific eligibility requirements.

HB 1927 stipulates "persons who are currently prohibited from possessing firearms under state and federal law will not gain the right to possess or carry a firearm under this legislation." While it is accurate that people no longer need a license to carry, this part of the law is meant to prevent someone from carrying a gun who is barred by state or federal law from possessing a gun.

Andi Turner, legislative director at the Texas State Rifle Association, pointed to this line in the law that prevents people "deemed too dangerous" from carrying a loaded handgun in public spaces.

The law also defines who is prohibited from possessing a firearm, including people convicted of a felony or of certain assault offenses. HB 1927 and firearm possession law cover some of the same base eligibility requirements.

Ari Freilich, state policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said in an email he believed O'Rourke's statement is accurate because HB 1927 made some people who previously could not qualify for a handgun carry permit newly eligible to carry guns in public because of gaps in the law.

Before the permitless carry law took effect, some people could legally purchase a gun while being ineligible for a handgun carry permit, Freilich said. The Giffords Law Center gave three examples of this, documented in a 2019 report.

For example, Freilich said, this would apply to an abusive partner threatening to shoot his spouse or child, as long as he didn't actually use or exhibit a firearm when threatening them. It is generally a Class C misdemeanor to intentionally or knowingly threaten another person, including a spouse or household member, with imminent bodily injury. But state prohibitions in firearm possession applies to felony and Class A misdemeanor assault convictions.

Practically speaking, there is no longer a check on who is carrying because law enforcement can't legally require a license, Southern Methodist University law professor Eric Ruben said.

"The licensing process was a filter for weeding out who shouldn't otherwise carry handguns," Ruben said. "And if someone was caught carrying a handgun, law enforcement would be able to ask, 'do you have a license?' If a person didn't have a license, they'd be breaking the law."

Without being able to ask for a license, Ruben said,it's going to be hard to differentiate between someone who's lawfully carrying a gun or not.

Our ruling

O'Rourke tweeted, "38,000 Texans had their license to carry denied, revoked, or suspended over the last five years because law enforcement deemed them too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public. But thanks to Greg Abbott's new law, they don't need a license to carry anymore."

O'Rourke tweeted the wrong number. It should have either been nearly 35,000 licenses denied, revoked, and suspended within the past five years or over 38,000 within the past six years.

Though law enforcement is longer checking for licenses, the second part of O'Rourke's statement is an oversimplification. HB 1927 states: "persons who are currently prohibited from possessing firearms under state and federal law will not gain the right to possess or carry a firearm under this legislation."

So, people "too dangerous to carry a loaded gun" would be kept from having one because of state and federal possession laws. But there are some gaps in the law, and keeping a statewide requirement for licenses would have made people meet more eligibility requirements.

We rate this Mostly False.

How we choose and rate claims

PolitiFact Texas is a partnership between the American-Statesman and the nonprofit PolitiFact. It works to present the truth without agenda or bias. Journalists set aside opinions to uphold independence and fairness in the fact-checking process.

We look for statements to check online, in TV transcripts, in press releases, and more. When we choose what to fact check, we consider if the statement is rooted in verifiable fact, if the claim could be misleading, if the statement is significant, and if the statement could be repeated and passed on.

Once a reporter reports on the claim, they can suggest a rating to their assigning editor. The rating is ultimately decided by a panel of three editors.

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Our Sources

Contact Nusaiba Mizan at nmizan@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @nusaiblah.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Fact-check: Are Texans ineligible for license allowed to carry guns?