Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who assigns bills to Senate committees, appears to have directed the stout gun bills passed by the House to relatively safe harbors.
Criminal Justice, which is where most gun bills usually end up, is chaired by Democrat John Whitmire of Houston. He has said recently that he would give a hearing to the campus carry bill because it provides an opt-out for public universities whose presidents decide against allowing gun licensees to carry their weapons into campus buildings.
So Criminal Justice got the campus carry bill.
But other more contentious bills went to committees chaired by conservative Republicans.
The so-called “Firearm Protection Bill” and another similar bill that makes it a crime for law enforcement to “unlawfully” seize firearms (by following new federal mandates, if ever passed by Congress) went to Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security, chaired by Craig Estes of Wichita Falls.
And the bill establishing school marshals who would be authorized, after 80 hours of training, to keep a locked gun in school houses for emergencies went to the Education Committee, chaired by Dan Patrick of Houston.
The Senate committees will hold their own hearings on the 13 gun bills passed in the House, which made getting a license easier and quicker, and pushed for nullification of any further federal restrictions on guns and ammunition.
Whether all of them will reach the Senate floor will depend. Senate rules require that two-thirds of the members agree to debate a bill — or 21 votes. If all of the Republicans back all of the bills, they will need to win over two Democrats before a debate can happen.