Texas DA: Must I Let My Prosecutors Carry Guns Into Court?

Criminal Justice

Texas DA: Must I Let My Prosecutors Carry Guns Into Court?

Posted Aug 26, 2008, 10:25 am CST
By Martha Neil

Under a new Texas law, state prosecutors can carry handguns anywhere except jails and prisons. That means they are allowed to take them into courthouses and courtrooms.

But at least one district attorney is dubious about the 2007 law, and he has asked the state attorney general whether he can impose additional restrictions, according to the Houston Chronicle.

"While it may now be legal for a prosecutor to carry a licensed concealed handgun in a courtroom, I retain significant concerns with regard to the level of training that should be required in order to permit prosecutors to safely carry firearms in the volatile environment of a criminal courthouse," says Ken Magidson, the Harris County district attorney, in a letter earlier this month to Greg Abbott, the state attorney general.

Magidson doesn't want to ban all of his prosecutors from carrying guns into court, according to the article, but wants to approve those who do, based on their firearms proficiency. His predecessor reportedly had a written policy forbidding his prosecutors to take guns into court.

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Posted by TXatty1 - 3 months, 6 days, 3 hours, 44 minutes ago

As an attorney in Texas, I am often in Texas courthouses. While I do not practice criminal law, my local civil courthouse is adjacent to, and in the same complex as, the criminal courthouse. The criminal courthouse also contains several county offices and our intermediate appellate court. While I understand and can appreciate that prosecutors may be at greater risk of being the victims of violent crime due to their higher profiles and the nature of their jobs, it concerns me that they may have guns in the courthouses—not because I fear the prosecutor, but because I fear that someone could get the weapon away from the carrying prosecutor (whose focus in the courtroom should be on advocating and diligently prosecuting the accused) and use it to harm the prosecutor or others who may be in the courthouse or nearby. When I go to the courthouse, whether in my town or others, I often see a bustling array of people, including children, walking into the courthouses or in the vicinity of the courthouse. Allowing prosecutors to carry could be a good thing, but it can also go terribly, terribly wrong in an instant. I agree with Mr. Magidson that more training should be required, but even still, a prosecutor is not in the courtroom as a safety or security offer but as an attorney. Perhaps it would be better to let them carry outside the courthouse just as any other citizen (with certain exceptions) may be permitted to carry a concealed weapon, but we should increase the personnel, training and resources for our in-court security officers so prosecutors can focus on their role as advocate and not have to play self-bodyguard.
Posted by associate - 3 months, 6 days, 3 hours, 4 minutes ago

TX,

We had the same issue in KY with our concealed carry rules. Almost every attorney shooting happens just outside a courthouse. However, you are not allowed to bring your gun from your car to the building (and therefore don’t have it leaving the building). As Chris Rock says, “Yeah, you feel all safe inside, but those—- outside with guns know you ain’t got one.“

The proper solution is to provide a “coat check” or locker in the lobby as you transition from outside to inside the building.

I guess that requires too much thought by administrators and legislators though.
Posted by PacificGatePost - 3 months, 6 days, 28 minutes ago

A GUN IN EVERY POCKET – Probably not what the framers of the Constitution really would intend today.

Emotions make this an endless debate, and solutions will be hard to come by.

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/08/gun-debate-intent-emotions-reason.html

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