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College president lying about concealed carry, and media covering for him

A newly elected state legislator in Texas, Representative-elect David Simpson (R-7th District), has already pre-filed a bill for the 2011 legislative session, to end Texas college campuses' "gun free zone" status, by compelling campuses to honor any concealed carry permit that is valid in the state.  This will not be the first attempt to end mandated defenselessness policies on Texas campuses.  In 2009, a bill to do just that actually passed in the state senate, but was basically buried in a House committee, by a representative hostile to self-defense.

As always occurs when the possibility of an expansion of legal recognition of the right to armed self-defense is discussed, the "Personal Protection on Campus Act" is drawing harsh criticism.  As is often also the case, the criticism is coming from people who are either clueless, or utterly without integrity (although I suppose we should not rule out the possibility of them being both).  Meet Kilgore College President Bill Holda, quoted by KLTV 7 News:

"I think it's a bad idea," said Bill Holda, president of Kilgore College. The campus is just one of the institutions in within district 7, covering all of Gregg County and parts of Smith County.

Holda said he favors protecting Second Amendment rights, but called Simpson's bill "ill-advised."

Hmm--he "favors protecting Second Amendment rights," but when a bill comes up that would do that, he finds it "ill-advised."  So what about the bill, specifically, does Holda think is "ill-advised"?  That's where it gets good.  From CampusCarry.com:

As an example of the type of information he believes Simpson failed to consider, Holda pointed to the Luby’s massacre, telling a local TV station, “[During the Luby’s massacre] you had multiple shooters, and innocent people were killed by other people who had concealed, licensed handguns, because they weren’t sure who was the shooter and who was a defender.”

This is, of course, utter hogwash (to be polite), as the Luby's Cafeteria massacre occurred in 1991--five years before the legalization of concealed carry in Texas, and the only guns present were in the hands of the deranged psychopath responsible for the slaughter.  In fact, one of the prime movers in the effort that brought legal concealed carry to Texas in 1996 is Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp.  She was at Luby's that horrible, fateful day, with her parents, and in compliance with Texas law at the time, had left her handgun behind, and was thus powerless to prevent the murder of both her parents.

What I can't help but notice here is that the media seems to be trying to help Dr. Holda hide from his cluelessness (or lie--take your pick).  KETK NBC manages to quote him without mentioning Luby's, by starting the quote mid-sentence:

"...where you have multiple shooters and innocent people were killed by other people who had concealed licensed handguns because they weren't sure who was the shooter and who was the defender," Holda said.

If, however, you follow the above link, and click on the video (which they don't make available for embeddding), you can very clearly hear the whole thing (starting at about 1:20 into the video):

At Luby's Restaurant and others, where you have multiple shooters and innocent people were killed by other people who had concealed licensed handguns because they weren't sure who was the shooter and who was the defender.

Now why would KETK NBC omit Holda's first five words, when quoting him in the article accompanying the video?  The only reason I can come up with is that exposing the utter wrongness of Holda's statement doesn't fit in with the preferred editorial slant.  Of course, I should also point out that I am not aware of a single case in which armed private citizens trying to stop a mass murderer made the situation worse, but that's a topic for another day.

Holda, by the way, has some other problems with the facts about this bill.  He told the Kilgore News Herald, for example, that defensive handgun carry by private citizens is banned in the Texas Capitol:

Concealed weapons are not allowed in the galleries of the Texas House and the Senate, Holda pointed out. During testimony over the issue two years ago, an NRA representative argued there is no place where a concealed handgun should not allowed to be carried, Holda said, but she wouldn’t criticize legislators for banning guns from their chambers.

“My point is, if a college campus is a safe place for persons to bring a concealed handgun, why doesn’t the representative also submit a bill to allow them in the House and Senate?” Holda said.

The problem is that Dr. Holda is, once again, full of (stuff).  Guns are not only legal in the Capitol Building--having a concealed carry permit actually allows the holder to bypass security.

Like Texas, Missouri got a campus carry bill through one legislative chamber last year, although here, that chamber was the House, rather than the Senate.  Renewed efforts will inevitably draw the same kind of resistance--and the same kind of blatant dishonesty . . . and we had better not count on the "mainstream" media callling them out on it.

Update: Knoxville Gun Rights Examiner Liston Matthews has more.

Update II: Reader Douva has helpfully posted a comment providing a link to an excellent article about further developments.  Thanks, Douva.

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