TexasCHLforum.com

Ruark wrote:For example, they are expecting an intense effort to disallow the big, ugly 06/07 signs and move to red-slash gunbuster signs, or something anybody can print out on a sheet of paper, with the full support of the Texas Association of Business. Its not like we can sit back and put our feet up.

AUSTIN - Texas businesses that ask customers to disarm themselves will have to pay for injuries incurred in these gun-free zones if Dallas-area Sen. Bob Hall has his way.

Hall wants to propose a new law that will make gun-free businesses liable for "any harm that befalls" patrons "as a result of being deprived of his or her weapon." The law, Hall says, would "encourage Texas businesses to do the right thing and allow their patrons to carry the firearms they have lawfully trained with for self-protection."

"Businesses that establish themselves as 'gun-free' provide a guaranteed path of least resistance for terrorists and psychopathic murderers by ensuring that all of the law-abiding patrons in their establishment, including those licensed to carry a firearm, have surrendered their right of self-defense at the door," Hall, E-Edgewood, said in a Monday email.

Hall's legislation is modeled on a bill considered earlier this year by the state legislature in Tennessee. That bill originally proposed the same civil liability on businesses that ban guns. But later, before it was signed into law, the bill was completely gutted.

Now, the law protects businesses that allow guns from being sued for doing so, unless the business owner acts with "gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct." It is unclear why the bill was so drastically changed.