Do You Have To Have A Background Check To Buy A Gun In Texas

Corrections & Clarifications: This story was updated Aug. 25 to clarify that background checks are required at gun shows if the seller is a licensed gun dealer. This modify does not affect the Imitation rating of the claim.

The claim: New permitless carry police force lets Texans purchase a gun without a background check

On June 16, Gov. Greg Abbott made Texas the 21st land to permit permitless carry of both open and concealed handguns.

The new law allows legal firearm owners to keep holstered handguns on them in public without extra training or a conduct permit.

At present, a Facebook mail service from June 17 is circulating anew, stirring up debate – and confusion – nigh the new law'southward effects.

"Texas Passes PermitLESS Gun Carry Law.. so if yous have an ID. You can by (sic) a Gun with No Background Checks.. No Permit, NO FOID menu," reads the post, which over 40,000 users have shared. "Now how do you think this is gonna turn out?"

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Members of Moms Demand Action protest in front of the Texas Governor's Mansion after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Wednesday that would allow Texans who are 21 years old or older to carry handguns without a permit. The permitless carry measure will go into effect Sept. 1. The group formed after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

Several users said the postal service's creator was wrong nigh gun purchase requirements.

The new police force doesn't bear on firearm buy and ownership laws in Texas. Merely Texans can, and often practise, purchase guns without background checks.

Permitless carry law doesn't touch prior gun buy regulations, but handgun carry

Reverse to the Facebook post, the permitless carry law, HB1927, passed by the Legislature and signed by Abbott, has no effect on buy and ownership regulations.

"HB1927 did not modify any of the requirements that are federally mandated," Ericka Miller, press secretary for the Texas Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email. "You lot must still get through the background bank check ... or present a valid License to Carry to purchase a weapon."

Those restrictions utilise to sales through licensed gun dealers, which require an FBI background check. There is no such requirement for sales between private parties, Miller said. (Gun shows tin can include both dealers and individual parties, so requirements vary based on who is selling the gun.)

What the new law does is become rid of previous restrictions on carrying handguns in public.

In this April 30, 2016, photograph, a spent round is ejected from a participant's handgun during a concealed carry class in Petal, Mississippi.

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Previously, considering of the carry permit requirement, any handgun owner who wanted to bring their weapon into a public space had to go through an eligibility screening, register fingerprints and undergo four to six hours of training, in add-on to passing a written exam and shooting proficiency test, the Texas Section of Public Safety website states. After HB1927 goes into effect on Sep. 1, those Texans will no longer demand that let or the training that went with it.

Some carrying restrictions will remain intact, however. Convicted felons, tearing domestic abusers and people who take been found mentally incapacitated by a court still aren't immune to carry a handgun, Pecker Piatt, professor of law at St. Mary's Academy in San Antonio, told KENS-5. Guns are all the same banned from schools and hospitals, and individual businesses tin ban weapons besides.

Piatt said some Texans volition notwithstanding apply for carry permits because several other states recognize and crave them.

Our rating: False

Based on our enquiry, nosotros rate Imitation the claim that a new permitless carry law lets Texans buy a gun without a background check. HB1927, passed in June, lets legal gun owners accept concealed or visible weapons on them without a special comport permit. It doesn't alter gun purchase and buying regulations.

Our fact-bank check sources:

Austin American-Statesman, June i, New handgun law in Texas: The constabulary explained and what you demand to know nigh the changes
Texas Legislature, accessed Aug. nine, History for HB1927
Texas Legislature, accessed Aug. thirteen, Summary of HB1927
Texas Department of Public Prophylactic, December. 2019, Texas License to Conduct A Handgun Statute & Selected Laws
KENS-five San Antonio, June 4, Law professor breaks down permitless carry handgun measure passed in Texas legislature
Texas Tribune, June 16, Texans can carry handguns without a license or training starting Sept. 1, after Gov. Greg Abbott signs permitless carry bill into law
Federal Agency of Investigations, accessed Aug. 9, National Instant Criminal Background Check Organization (NICS)
Ericka Miller, Aug. ten, Email interview with Usa TODAY
PolitiFact, April viii, In gun policy address, Joe Biden exaggerates well-nigh background checks at gun shows

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