The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 30, 1995, Image 16

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Page 16 • The Battalion
State
Thursday • November 30,1995
Lawmakers seek to clarify gun law
□ Many state agencies
are considering banning
concealed guns on their
property.
AUSTIN (AP) — With an in
creasing number of cities and gov
ernment agencies taking steps to
keep licensed citizens from bring
ing concealed guns on their prop
erty, sponsors of the state’s new
right to carry law set out Wednes
day to clarify the issue.
“We have a lot of bad signals
being sent and a lot of those are
wrong,” said Sen. Jerry Patter
son, R-Pasadena, an author of
the gun law.
Cities — including Austin
and Grand Prairie, near Dallas
— have approved ordinances
restricting where citizens will
be able to take concealed guns
when state licenses go into ef
fect Jan. 1.
Transit authorities in Hous
ton and Austin have passed
rules banning concealed guns.
Other transit services, including
those in Dallas and San Antonio,
are considering similar action.
The Texas Department of
Public Safety, which is process
ing the concealed gun licenses,
approved an emergency rule in
October that would prohibit con
cealed guns on its property. The
DPS is taking public comment
before making it a permanent
rule. The Texas Department of
Transportation was to consider
similar action.
Patterson said local govern
ments are violating the constitu
tion and the legislative intent of
the right to carry law by impos
ing restrictions.
During a Capitol news con
ference, Patterson got so stirred
up that he nearly advocated ig
noring the local policies being
put in place.
“I would suggest that a citizen
do what state laws allow them to
do and ignore metro rules,” he
said before backing off from the
statement.
He later said, “You can be
right and still go to jail. Citizens
should obey the policies until
they can be cleared up, most
likely through legal opinions
from the attorney general.”
But Texas Attorney General
Dan Morales’ office said Wednes
day that it stands by opinions is
sued earlier this year.
Those opinions said transit
authorities and businesses may
ban the carrying of guns; coun
ties may prohibit concealed
handguns within county parks;
and local and state officials may
ban guns in public buildings.
“We gave good solid legal opin
ions and there is no reason to re
visit those opinions,” said Morales
spokesman Ward Tisdale.
Patterson said he expected
the DPS and Department of
Transportation to reconsider
their actions.
“The DPS will probably an
nounce a retraction,” he said,
“The Department of Transporta
tion would be overstepping its
bounds.”
Sherri Deatherage Green,
spokeswoman for the DPS, said,
“Any time lawmakers specifical
ly raise questions about some
thing the DPS is doing, we will
take another look at it. That’s
the point where we are with
these rules anyway, taking and
responding to public comment.”
Green said, “These rules
were not intended in any way
to reflect on the law. The intent
was to maintain safety at DPS
offices and driver license of
fices. People are routinely ar
rested at driver license offices
all over the state when they
come in to get licenses
renewed.”
Groups disagree about Texas’ air quality
: □ The Clean Air Network said
the state has done little to
change the level of air pollution.
AUSTIN (AP) — The State of Texas is
not doing enough — and wants to do less —-
j: to curb smog and ozone problems in its
| cities, a coalition of environmental groups
; said Wednesday.
The Glean Air Network, a Washington
; D.C.-based coalition, released a report on
; states’ efforts to deal with air pollution. The
I 1 group said Texas has not done enough to
: curb pollution from power plants and re-
; fineries and has done little to reduce motor
vehicle pollution.
But the Texas Natural Resource Conser-
: vation Commission said the group is wrong.
“This evaluation is an inaccurate charac-
; terization of what is going on in Texas/’
: said TNRCC Chairman Barry McBee.
; 'Texas has made and is continuing to make
; significant progress in air quality.”
McBee said that after new rules were put
I in place last year, industrial facilities across
• Texas reported lower pollution emissions.
And he said the state is working closely
/ with federal officials on programs to reduce
air pollution from automobiles and non
road engines, like lawn mowers.
Ken Kramer, head of the Texas Sierra
Club and a member of the Clean Air Net
work, said too many Texans continue to
breath air that does not meet federal clean
air standards. Four large areas, including
Houston-Galveston, Dallas-Ft. Worth,
Beaumont-Port Arthur and El Paso, do not
he federal standards.
"Unless we reverse course, we
will be breathing dirty air for
many years to come."
— Ken Kramer
Texas Sierra Club
Kramer said earlier this year Texas
could have been commended for its- efforts
to reduce vehicle-related ozone through an
emissions testing program that started in
January. But the Legislature’s action to
cancel the program and come up with a sub
stitute puts Texans at risk, he charged.
“Unless we reverse course, we will be
breathing dirty air for many years to
come,” he said.
Lawmakers scrapped the emissions test
ing plan just after it started because they
said it was inconvenient and costly to dri
vers. Instead, the TNRCC has submitted to
the federal Environmental Protection
Agency a three-part testing system that
would allow motorist their choice of tests.
The plan has not been formally submit
ted for approval, TNRCC Commissioner
Ralph Marquez said.
Neil Carman, another Sierra Club offi
cial, said even though thousands of Texans
face increased risks of respiratory problems
because of the high pollution levels, the
TNRCC is backing a plan for lower stan
dards.
“With slight of hand and smoke and
mirrors there will be no ozone problem,”
he said.
Pollution levels currently are mea
sured in one-hour increments at several
separate sites in a given area. If any of
the measurements shows more than the
allowable pollution level, the entire area
is considered too high.
The new plan would measure pollution
in eight-hour periods and would average
all monitoring sites in a given areas to
come up with an eight-hour total average
pollution level.
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