Holstered Guns Found Unattended At UT-Austin Bathrooms

AUSTIN, TX — A student claimed a holstered pistol that was left unattended at the University of Texas at Austin earlier this week, but campus police on Wednesday a second pistol was found in a women's bathroom on Wednesday.

Welcome to the world of campus carry. Since 2016, it's been legal to bring a concealed handgun at public universities, via the "campus carry" law championed by Gov. Greg Abbott. The law became effective six months after passage of companion legislation dubbed "open carry" that allows public displays of weapons that became law on Jan. 1, 2016.

The first pistol that's since been claimed was left atop a toilet paper dispenser inside a restroom stall at the McCombs Graduate School of Business building on Tuesday. The next day, campus police received a second report of an unattended pistol left in another women's bathroom at the Commons Learning Center at the Pickle Research Campus located some nine miles north of the main campus.

Campus police are now mulling whether to charge the owner of the first gun with a violation. The second handgun was later claimed by what campus police descried as a person not affiliated with the university who was attending a conference at the Commons Learning Center. Campus police are trying to determine what sort of charges might be lodged against that gun owner.

The misplaced guns come at a time of heightened concern over guns on campuses in the wake of a shooting last week at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead.

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