Washington Babylon — May 20, 2009, 11:11 am
SIGN IN to access the Harper’s archive
ALERT: Usernames and passwords from the old Harpers.org will no longer work. To create a new password and add or verify your email address, please sign in to customer care and select Email/Password Information. (To learn about the change, please read our FAQ.)
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today!
Create a login here. Forgot password? Forgot email? More help here.
The Senate today tentatively passed a controversial bill to allow college students who are at least 21 years old and licensed to carry concealed handguns to carry those weapons into campus buildings. The vote was 20-10 after about 90 minutes of debate.
The bill faces a final vote before it would go to the House, where a similar bill was declared dead last week by its author, Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland. The Senate bill could be a way to revive the issue in the final weeks of the session.
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, said he introduced the bill because of the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, where he said victims were “picked off like sitting ducks.”"I would feel personally guilty if I woke up one morning and read that something similar had occurred on a Texas campus,” he said.
The bill would apply to all universities and colleges in the state, but private institutions would be able to opt out.
More from Ken Silverstein:
Commentary — July 25, 2012, 2:20 pm
Washington Babylon — September 29, 2010, 11:37 am
Years of consideration preceding the inclusion of the word “phat” in Random House’s 1996 Compact Unabridged Dictionary:
Scientists created crash helmets that stink when cracked and fruit flies to whom blue light smells delicious.
In Belize, a construction company bulldozed a 2,300-year-old Mayan temple to make road fill.
“This is the heart of the magic factory, the place where medicine is infused with the miracles of science, and I’ve come to see how it’s done.”
