PAXTON FILES SUIT AGAINST WALLER CO. OVER CARRY LAW

  

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit against Waller County, over the state’s licensed-carry laws.

Paxton's filed the suit Tuesday, requiring the county to allow citizens to carry firearms in the Waller County Courthouse, in areas that contain non-judicial county administrative offices, such as the county clerk, county treasurer and county election offices.

Paxton says that while the state's licensed-carry law allows government entities to exclude guns from the portion of a building housing an office utilized by a government court, treasurer offices and election offices do not qualify for that exclusion.

Waller Co. District Attorney Elton Mathis issued a press release Tuesday afternoon, questioning what he says is Paxton’s unwillingness to cooperate with the county’s quest to have the courts decide the issue.

Mathis states in his release that, “We as a County have sought to have the law clarified by the courts (as it should be) to protect the rights and duties of all citizens.”

Mathis goes on to accuse Paxton of seeking to, “…penalize another branch of government for not bowing to big government and his interpretation of the law.”

Paxton filed a similar suit recently against the city of Austin, which claims its city hall is a government court.