Houston Zoo lifts ban on concealed handguns amid legal spat

The Houston Zoo has taken down its “no guns allowed” signage after a Second Amendment attorney said the rule ran afoul of a new Texas-wide law.

Signs that said handguns were banned inside the zoo had adorned its entrance until this week when city officials ordered them to be removed after receiving a complaint from T. Edwin Walker, an attorney with Texas Law Shield.

Mr. Walker wrote the zoo two days after a law went into effect on the first of the month authorizing the Texas attorney general to investigate and fine “political subdivisions that unlawfully post signs that prohibit concealed weapons on property where concealed handgun license holders (CHL holders) are legally permitted to carry.”

Although the zoo is operated by an independent nonprofit group, Mr. Walker said it sits on city property and must abide applicable legislation.

The new law, S.B. 273, allows violators to be fined $1,000 for a first offense and $10,000 for each subsequent infraction. In a statement, the zoo said it has complied and removed the signage while it weighs its legal options.

“Effective immediately, the Houston Zoo will not ask anyone who is lawfully permitted to carry a concealed legal handgun to stow their weapon in their vehicle while visiting the zoo. We do recognize that this has the potential to confuse or concern our guests and members and we want to emphasize that this will not alter our number-one priority, which is the safety of our guests, employees and animals,” the zoo said in a statement.

The Houston Chronicle said the attorney planned on taking his complaint to the Office of the Texas Attorney General before the city agreed to remove the signs. And since the state legislature legalized concealed carry more than a decade ago but failed to include penalties until this month, the lawyer told a local ABC News affiliate that “the city of Houston should apologize to CHL holders for violating their rights for the past dozen years.”

“I guarantee there is no license holder who is going to go to the zoo in anticipation of shooting a giraffe in front of a bunch of school children,” Mr. Walker told the Houston Press. “The issue is just that this is a place where the government is not allowed to tell people that they can’t carry a licensed handgun. The Texas government has recognized that people have the right to defend themselves. How do they do that? With a gun.”

Speaking to the ABC affiliate, the lawyer said he believes other public buildings throughout Houston may be in violation of a law that infringes on the rights of roughly a million concealed handgun license holders across the state.

The Houston Press reported that city crime statistics for the area surrounding the zoo suggest 11 murders have occurred in the vicinity since 2010, although none of them were in the park.