Texas allows guns at universities on mass shooting anniversary

Texas became the eighth US state to allow guns on university campuses on Monday – a controversial decision that comes on the 50th anniversary of a deadly campus sniper rampage.

Under the new law now in effect, each public university in Texas has to permit concealed weapons, but can choose to limit where on campus they are allowed. Private universities are exempt from the law.

At the University of Texas at Austin, where a mass shooting in 1966 claimed 14 lives, the institution's president Gregory Fenves said the emotionally charged issue would likely be little noticed on campus.

Texas joins seven other states which allow concealed guns on campuses, including Oregon, Colorado and Wisconsin. Eighteen states specifically ban the practice.