IPSecure
05-21-2010, 04:18 PM
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- With security concerns on the rise, metal detectors finally were installed and turned on at the Texas Capitol Friday. But citizens, lobbyists and other visitors can escape the lines - if they carry a concealed handgun.
In the building where the conceal-and-carry law was written, visitors are not only allowed to pack heat. Under the new security procedures, there's now practically an incentive to be armed - or at least to hold the license for it.
Officials are creating one line for the masses, one line for lawmakers and their staffs and then a separate procedure for concealed handgun license holders. The general public has to get scanned at the entrances. State officials and gun toting citizenry do not.
For frequent visitors of the capitol, including lobbyists, journalists and political activists, getting the permit just to get in faster is becoming an alternative to waiting behind tourists.
Link (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEXAS_CAPITOL_GUNS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US)
In the building where the conceal-and-carry law was written, visitors are not only allowed to pack heat. Under the new security procedures, there's now practically an incentive to be armed - or at least to hold the license for it.
Officials are creating one line for the masses, one line for lawmakers and their staffs and then a separate procedure for concealed handgun license holders. The general public has to get scanned at the entrances. State officials and gun toting citizenry do not.
For frequent visitors of the capitol, including lobbyists, journalists and political activists, getting the permit just to get in faster is becoming an alternative to waiting behind tourists.
Link (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEXAS_CAPITOL_GUNS?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US)