Texas Gov.-Elect Who Said Carriers Need Background Checks Cannot Undo Constitutional Carry Without the Legislature
Key Takeaways
- Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa cannot repeal the state's constitutional carry law by executive order.
- Repealing or replacing the law would require action by the Texas Legislature, where Republicans kept their Senate majority.
- Texas House Bill 1927, signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021, allows eligible adults to carry a handgun without a state License to Carry.
- The 2021 law did not remove existing prohibitions on firearm possession and left restrictions on carry locations in place.
- Federal background checks for purchases from licensed dealers remain required under current law regardless of the constitutional carry statute.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
DALLAS, TX — Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa cannot repeal the state’s constitutional carry law by executive order. Changing it would take action by the Legislature, and any replacement would still have to clear state and federal constitutional limits.
Voters elected Democrats to several statewide offices on Tuesday, including governor and lieutenant governor, while Republicans kept their majority in the Texas Senate, as reported by The Dallas Express. Hinojosa opposed constitutional carry in a New Yorker interview published Oct. 21, saying “people should have a background check to carry a gun.”
The law she is talking about is House Bill 1927, Texas’ constitutional carry law. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it on June 16, 2021, and it took effect Sept. 1, 2021. It lets eligible adults carry a handgun in most public places without first getting a state License to Carry, the permit Texans needed before then. It covers concealed handguns and handguns carried openly in a holster.
It did not open the door for people the law already barred. The bill expressly stated that anyone prohibited from possessing firearms under state or federal law would not gain the right to possess or carry one. It also left the restrictions on where people may carry in place.
Federal background checks on purchases from licensed dealers are still required, subject to statutory exceptions. What Hinojosa described would be a separate condition, applied to carrying a handgun rather than buying one.
Supporters of the 2021 law framed licensing as a permission problem. Gun Owners of America, which backed HB 1927, said in its 2021 guidance that “Texans shouldn’t have to ask the state for permission to exercise their right to carry a handgun.” The group also argued that licensing forces lawful gun owners to wait for approval before they can carry for self-defense. When Abbott signed the bill, Firearms Policy Coalition President Brandon Combs described it as “restoring a more robust right to bear arms.”
A governor cannot change that law alone. A repeal or a new licensing requirement would have to come through the Legislature, and Republicans kept their majority in the Senate.
More from USA Carry:
- 27 States Walk Out Same Day, 15 Still File the Form 4: The Full State List After the Midnight Suppressor Injunction
- Federal & State Background Checks for Firearms: Issues and Ideas
- Gun Dealers Will Soon Be Able to Run Their Own Employees Through NICS Under New Firearm Handler Check Rule
- Why You Need a Pocket Gun….Even if You Don’t Pocket Carry
- Nov. 18 Hearing Set as GOA and VCDL Fight Virginia’s Handgun Purchase Ban for 18-to-20-Year-Olds and Universal Background Checks
For Texans carrying today, nothing has changed. The 2021 law is still the law. My advice is the same as it was before Tuesday. Keep your training current, know the places where carry is still off-limits, and keep the mindset that the gun is the last tool, not the first.
I will continue tracking any legislation aimed at Texas constitutional carry as lawmakers take it up.
Legislative data provided by LegiScan (CC BY 4.0, legiscan.com).
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