(CNN) Deadly shooting at Texas elementary school. 

Today, Texas cannot protect its babies. Was it always so? Let’s take a trip back to 1871. Quoting from (Houston Chronicle, 2014) First to ban open carry, Texas could be one of last to OK it,

That all changed in 1871, however, when the Legislature first outlawed the carrying of pistols outside of the home: “If any person in this state shall carry on or about his person, saddle, or in his saddle-bags, any pistol … he shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars,” or around $2,000 today.

That was the law in Texas, until 1995, when concealed carry was allowed with permit.  The 1871 law has been deprecated as a tool of oppression, first as a Reconstructionist tool against the defeated confederacy, later as a racist tool to prevent the arming of black freedmen. While impure motives can be ascribed to anything, (History News Service via ndsu.edu) Gun Control and The Old West paints a different picture. Quoting,

Old West cattlemen themselves also saw the need for gun control. By 1882, a Texas cattle raising association had banned six-shooters from the cowboy’s belt. “In almost every section of the West murders are on the increase, and cowmen are too often the principals in the encounters,” concurred a dispatch from the Texas Live Stock Journal dated June 5, 1884. “The six-shooter loaded with deadly cartridges is a dangerous companion for any man, especially if he should unfortunately be primed with whiskey. Cattlemen should unite in aiding the enforcement of the law against carrying of deadly weapons.”

Texans back then understood the sanctity of life better than Texans now.

Texans, you can’t protect your babies.