Hidden Heat In Texas

One of the first bills signed into law by Governor George W. Bush gave Texans the right to carry concealed weapons.

But acording to a year-long Los Angeles Times investigation, concealed weapons licenses have been issued to more than 400 Texans with histories of violence, mental illness, or prior conviction for serious crimes, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales.

Those prior convictions include rape, armed robbery, psychological disorders and drug problems, the Times reported in Tuesday's editions.

In addition, more than 3,000 licensees have been arrested for crimes that include double murder and drunken driving since receiving their permits, the newspaper said.
Some 215,000 Texans are licensed to carry concealed weapons.

A spokesman for Bush's presidential campaign, Karen Hughes, blamed the 71 cases on federal law officials who failed to respond to the state's requests for help with many background checks within the 60 days required under Texas law.

While criticizing federal law enforcement under President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, Hughes stood by the law.

"Since Governor Bush fulfilled a campaign commitment to allow Texans who are willing to be trained, licensed and registered to carry a gun for their self protection and the protection of their families, Texas is a safer place," she said. "Our murder rate is at a 30-year low, violent crime is down 20 percent and violent juvenile crime is down 38 percent."

The Bush campaign also said Texas' system of background checks was as stringent or more thorough than the checks in the 30 other states with similar concealed weapon laws.

“We think there ought to be strict requirements and we hold people to those requirements much more than other states,” said campaign spokesman Dan Bartlett. “We have high standards in place and we will continue to work to improve them.”

Bartlett said holders of concealed weapon permits in Texas were six times less likely to commit violent crimes than Texans without a permit, and that the state has its lowest murder rate in 30 years.

Texas will not release the names of problem licensees or details of their crimes. The screening and license enforcement process is closed to public scrutiny and exempt from open records laws. The state Department of Public Safety provides only lists with no names of those license holders subject to disciplinary action.

But the newspaper traced many of the most serious law violators through interviews, police reports, court records and other documents, as well as computer-assisted analyses of state and national databases.

Texas authorities only have 60 days to conduct background checks and they routinely issue licenses before the process is completed. So far, retroactive revocation actions have been launched against the more than 400 people before officials got the out-of-state crime recordsthe newspaper reported.

Background checks do not routinely include interviews with the applicant or family and friends. State law requires only review of “local official records” and criminal history records.

“If there are no clues, no reasons to suspect a problem, then we don't go knocking on doors,” said state police Maj. Lee Smith, whose troopers conduct the local checks.

Troopers do not routinely investigate an applicant's mental or medical history beyond a search of local public records unless suspicious information is discovered.

David Gavin, DPS's assistant chief of administration for the concealed handgun authority, said background checks are not as thorough as for those applicants seeking state trooper jobs. He said such inquiries would be costly and time-consuming.

“We feel we're effectively using the resources we have available,” Gavin said.

He blamed some of the early problems on slow FBI response to a deluge of requests for out-of-state crime records in the early years of the program. He said state officials decided to issue licenses despite incomplete background checks to avoid causing delay “for the vast majority of good applicants” who were going to pass anyway. Gavin said his staff acted “in a quick and sure manner” to rescind permits when disqualifying information was discovered.

But the newspaper's investigation identified dozens of cases of criminal histories that should have been available in Texas courts and in the investigative files of police agencies.

While Bush has had support in Texas for lifting the ban on concealed weapons, nationally it could pose a political problem for him in his tight race against Gore.

Polls show these laws are controversial, particularly among women and independent voters. And three of the critical swing states - Illinois, Ohio and Missouri - ban carrying concealed weapons.

Bush has said he would not seek a nationwide version of the Texas concealed gun law if elected, saying that should be left to states to decide.