Texas to allow unlicensed carrying of handguns

Texas legislators have passed a bill which would allow most people to carry concealed handguns without a permit. 

Current state rules require those carrying handguns to have a licence, training and background checks.

But Texas's Republican-run senate has voted to drop the restrictions.

The bill has been sent to Governor Greg Abbott, who has said he will sign it into law – despite warnings from gun control groups that it could endanger the public.

Texas has some of the loosest gun laws in the US and already allows rifles to be carried in public without a licence.

The new measure would allow anyone aged 21 or older to carry a handgun unless they have past criminal convictions or legal restrictions on them.

Supporters of the new rules, often known as "constitutional carry", say they would allow Texans to better defend themselves in public and abolish unnecessary limits on the constitutional right to bear arms.

"This is a simple restoration of Texans' constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms," Senator Charles Schwertner, a Republican, said on Monday, the Texas Tribune reports.

Critics say the bill puts lives at risk. Beverly Powell, a Democratic senator, raised safety concerns from some law enforcement groups that opposed the bill.

"If I sit down at a restaurant with a gentleman or a woman who has a holster on their side and a gun in it, I want to know that person is well-trained in the use of that gun," she said.