Texas Lobbyists Use Concealed Handgun Permits To Skip Capitol Inspection Lines

Lobbyists spend so much time in the Texas state capitol that they're sick of waiting in line for metal detectors, so they've started to sign up for concealed handgun licenses that also, for some reason, mean the state assumes they aren't a security threat, the Houston Chronicle reports.

"Visitors to the Capitol also now are subject to inspections of purses, bags and briefcases by Department of Public Safety officers.The only people exempted are lawmakers, properly identified state employees or Texans who carry a pistol with a concealed handgun license -- or just the license itself, which allows them to bypass the security lines for an express lane reserved for 'CHL Holders,'" Chronicle reporter Gary Scharrer writes.