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Fact-check: Can Texans 'too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public' now carry?

Facts And Fact Checking,Gun Control And Gun Rights,Texas

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Fact Check

Beto O'Rourke: "38,000 Texans had their license to carry denied, revoked, or suspended over the last five years because law enforcement deemed them too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public. But thanks to Greg Abbott's new law, they don't need a license to carry anymore."

PolitiFact Texas ruling: Mostly False

Here's why: Many Texas officials were present as Gov. Greg Abbott held a May 25 news conference one day after a shooter killed two teachers and 19 children at an elementary school in Uvalde. Democraticgubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke rose from the audience and approached the stage.

"This is on you," O'Rourke told Abbott, his Republican opponent in the November election. "Unless you choose to do something different, this will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed, just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday."

O'Rourke, who endorsed the mandatory buy-back of military-style rifles when he ran for president in 2020, has continued to criticize pro-gun policies adopted by Texas' Republican leadership.

On May 29, he tweeted, "38,000 Texans had their license to carry denied, revoked, or suspended over the last five years because law enforcement deemed them too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public. But thanks to Greg Abbott's new law, they don't need a license to carry anymore."

Is he right that people "too dangerous to carry a loaded gun in public" no longer need a license to carry?

O'Rourke's sources

When we reached out for sources, O'Rourke's campaign pointed us to Texas Department of Public Safety data reports onlicense to carry applications denied, licenses revoked, andlicenses suspended.

PolitiFact Texas contacted the Texas Department of Public Safety multiple times regarding permitless carry requirements but did not receive an answer.

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