Maverick County Commissioners Court approves prohibiting Open Carry and Concealed Handguns in County Premises & Buildings

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016

Maverick County Commissioners Court approved to ban the carrying of concealed and open carry handguns in all County premises and buildings by a split vote of 3-2 at their January 11, 2016 meeting. Voting in favor of prohibition were County Judge David R. Saucedo, County Commissioner Roberto Ruiz, and County Commissioner Pete Venegas, Jr. while voting against prohibition were County Commissioners Rosy Cantu and Jerry Morales.

Judge Saucedo opened up agenda item No. 32 regarding the discussion and possible action in reference to Sections 30.06 and 30.07 of the Texas Penal Code concerning concealed handguns and openly carried handguns from being prohibited in Maverick County premises/buildings.

County Commissioner of Precinct 4 Roberto Ruiz placed the item on the agenda and discussed the importance of addressing this issue in order to possibly safeguard the community and Maverick County employees.

Ruiz presented examples of local agencies such as the Eagle Pass Independent School District , the City of Eagle Pass, and local businesses in the private sector who are opting to not allow the open carry law of handguns in their facilities.

Ruiz recommended Commissioners Court approve a prohibition of concealed and open carry handguns in all County premises and buildings and to begin placing the required signs after approval by Commissioners Court in all County buildings.

Commissioners Court and legal counsel discussed what was allowable by law and some of the questions being raised over the newly implemented Open Carry Law with regards to the rights of governmental agencies being able to prohibit the open carry and concealed handguns in public government buildings under Sections 30.06 and 30.07 of the Penal Code.

“The bigger issue is not what is contained in the signs. The issue is can the County post those signs to preclude people from carrying open or concealed in areas other than the court. Under the law, you can post them where there are meetings such as this one but the bare question is can you in other governmental offices, county buildings.” said legal counsel Albert Gutierrez.

“My conservative advice would be to post them here where there is an open meeting or other courtroom. It is not clear yet whether you can post them to prevent the carrying in other governmental offices. Under the statute, Commissioners Court can be fined for improperly restricting a person’s right to do that. The Attorney General is going to come up with an opinion very soon, clarifying where exactly you can prohibit people from carrying.” added legal counsel Gutierrez.

Judge Saucedo agreed that the issues with the new open carry law were many that needed to be addressed and clarified to better understand everyone’s rights under the new law.

Judge Saucedo further asked legal counsel if his advise was to only post the signage prohibiting the carrying of guns either openly or concealed only to be in the courtrooms and place of public open meetings.

Legal counsel stated that was his advise that until things would be clarified which could go either way depending on the AG opinion being waited on.

“ Some people have taken the position that you can prohibit the carrying in any governmental building. That’s not clear yet. The Governor says that’s not true and the Attorney General should be issuing out an opinion interpreting that law very soon. Different Counties approach it differently. I know Bexar County has an all across the board prohibition wherever they post notice , you can not carry a gun anywhere those notices are posted. It may not be correct.” added legal counsel Gutierrez.

Legal counsel also gave an example of a government (City of San Antonio) taking the conservative approach and adhering to prohibition in areas of public meetings and courtrooms only for the time being.

“What is the requirement under the law is not clear. What is clear you can post it in an open meeting or a judicial proceeding other than that what other parts of a governmental entity’s building can you prohibit a person from carrying is not clear.” said legal counsel Gutierrez.

After a thorough discussion of the pros and cons, Commissioners Court approved the prohibition of concealed and open carry handguns in all Maverick County premises and buildings on a split 3-2 vote.