Metal detectors won’t stop gun toters at Texas Capitol; visitors with permits avoid scanners

Have gun, will travel into the Texas state capitol

AUSTIN, Texas — With security concerns on the rise, metal detectors finally are finally being installed and turned on at the Texas Capitol.

But there’s one way citizens, lobbyists and other visitors can escape the lines: Carry a concealed handgun.

In the building where the conceal-and-carry law was written, Texans 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 totally 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.