What’s OK and Not OK in Texas

So the Texas Senate voted on Background Checks yesterday, and lo and behold, the vote on SB 146 to expand Background Checks in this state passed by a voice vote of 30 to nothing.

 

Who would have thought?

But on further reading, I came to realize that these particular background checks aren’t the ones that are so much in the news these days. No the background checks that the Texas Senate voted to expand and improve were not ones to check and see if a firearm purchaser has a criminal record or not.

It’s so that college and university officials can check to see whether students who want to live in their dormitories have criminal records.

This is the state of things in red, red Texas. Anyone can wander into a gun show in Texas, and we have lots and lots of them, and purchase a semi-automatic weapon with high capacity magazine clips on the same day and walk out with it.

If you have the money, you get the weapon, no questions asked.

But should SB 146 pass, state university officials will be allowed to enter the DPS database and see whether a college applicant has a rap sheet.

For anything.

Like a student prank in high school.

Or a drug bust.

Anything.

Because you never know who you will draw as a roommate in a college dorm. Your roommate could be some kid who has an arrest record. But if the same kid keeps an AR-15 in his closet, well that’s OK.