State Sen. Donna Campbell's Firearms-in-Church Bill Gets Preliminary Approval in Texas House

The Texas House on Monday gave a preliminary vote of approval to a bill by Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, that would let licensed handgun owners legally pack heat in churches and other places of worship.

Campbell's Senate Bill 535 would erase language in current state law that bans guns from places of worship. Under the proposal, congregations could still post notices prohibiting firearms on premises, however.

The measure appears to codify a legal opinion handed down by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton after the late 2017 shooting in Sutherland Springs, according to a Texas Tribune report. A gunman killed 26 people in a church in the small town south of San Antonio, making it the worst mass shooting in state history.

It isn't hard to imagine the firearms-in-church bill coming from Campbell, who's got a 100 percent voting record with the NRA and has a penchant for showing off firearms in her campaign ads.

Since her 2012 election, Campbell has also championed a failed bill that would ban foreign ownership of the Alamo and displayed shock during an education hearing that Texas doesn't teach creationism in public schools.

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