Texas House members have passed legislation that would strengthen Second Amendment rights and expand protections for individuals who lawfully exercise self-defense.
House Bill 170, filed by State Rep. Ryan Guillen (R–Rio Grande City), would prohibit civil actions against an individual who threatens or administers force or deadly force if a grand jury does not indict them, or if charges are dismissed or the person is acquitted.
In addition, if the person pursuing the civil action is found to be prohibited from seeking it, Guillen’s proposal would require them to pay court costs and the defendant’s attorney fees.
The measure is similar, but not identical, to Senate Bill 1730 by State Sen. Bob Hall (R–Edgewood), which senators passed 26-3-2 on Monday afternoon.
Like Guillen’s measure, Hall’s would extend civil immunity protections to those who exercised self-defense and never faced grand jury charges. However, unlike Hall’s measure, Guillen’s proposal would extend immunity to those who merely “threaten” the use of force.
“This strengthens the Texas castle doctrine by extending civil immunity to individuals who lawfully threaten to use force or deadly force in self-defense, without requiring the force to actually be used,” said Guillen.
HB 170 finally passed in a 118-20-3 vote by representatives on Tuesday.
Another proposal, HB 2458 by State Rep. Wes Virdell (R–Brady), would provide a defense to prosecution for aggravated assault when an individual threatens death or serious bodily injury by displaying a deadly weapon if they:
- Successfully demonstrate that their threat constituted legally justified self-defense.
- Reasonably believed that using the deadly weapon was immediately necessary to protect themselves from aggravated assault.
The legal term “defense to prosecution” is a type of total affirmative defense. These defenses, even if the prosecution proves the elements of the crime, present additional facts that could otherwise negate the defendant’s liability.
“This is just saying that if you have to unholster your weapon while you’re acting in self-defense, then it’s a defense to prosecution,” explained Virdell.
Lawmakers passed HB 2458 in a 119-18-2 vote.
Two proposals dealing with citizens’ gun rights were also approved by representatives on Tuesday, but they faced more pushback from Democrats than those related to self-defense, with both votes splitting largely along party lines.
HB 3053, filed by Virdell, would ban local municipalities from adopting or enforcing firearm buyback programs—government initiatives intended to remove guns from circulation by purchasing the firearms.
State Rep. Gene Wu (D–Houston) pushed back on the proposal, arguing that cities should be able to decide for themselves if they want a buyback program.
While Virdell contended that cities often ignore their citizens in passing the programs, Wu argued that the buyback program in Houston was widely supported by residents.
“I have been to multiple gun buyback programs in my districts that were overwhelmingly popular—that people lined up around the block for hours and hours and hours to trade in their weapons,” said Wu.
Virdell noted that most firearms bought through the programs are not destroyed entirely, with the government auctioning off parts of the weapons to private contractors who then resell them back to the public.
“At millions of dollars per city that’s doing this, and the estimate by The Trace over the time period this has been going on is over a billion dollars right now,” said Virdell.
The measure passed 85-56-2.
HB 1794, filed by State Rep. Carl Tepper (R–Lubbock), would permit those with a license to carry (LTC) to bear concealed handguns at certain polling locations, unless carrying at the location is otherwise prohibited by state law.
Primary or secondary schools are examples of polling locations at which Tepper’s proposal would not apply.
“I would also like to add here that private property owners get to keep their own policies,” said Tepper. “So, if the grocery store doesn’t allow handguns, the polling place will also not be allowed to have handguns.”
Tepper’s measure passed 83-50-2.
All four of the measures will now be sent to senators, who have increasingly limited time to read over and consider the hundreds of measures that representatives have stacked up for them.
