The Houston Chronicle has reported that Harris County District Attorney Ken Magidson has asked for a legal opinion from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to see if assistant DAs can be prevented from taking handguns into courtrooms.
Magidson has told members of his staff to get his permission before they can carry a firearm into a court, even if staffers have concealed handgun licenses.
However, most restrictions on where prosecutors with gun licenses can carry their weapons was removed in 2007, when a new law allowed prosecutors with handgun licenses to carry everywhere except jails and prisons, or unless they were drunk.
Magidson said in a letter to Abbott on August 7, “A prosecutor on my staff has expressed an opinion that any restriction upon an assistant district attorney’s right to carry a licensed concealed handgun in a courtroom is unlawful and unconstitutional. Therefore, I respectfully request that the attorney general provide a written opinion concerning the legality of imposing restrictions upon the carry of a firearm in a courtroom by a prosecutor with a concealed handgun license, as a condition of the prosecutor’s employment.
“While it may now be legal for a prosecutor to carry a licensed concealed handgun in a courtroom, I retain significant concerns with regard to the level of training that should be required in order to permit prosecutors to safely carry firearms in the volatile environment of a criminal courthouse.”
In his brief to Abbott, Magidson argued that the authority of an employer to restrict the carrying of licensed handguns on the premises under the employer’s control is expressly recognized in state law.
