A bill allowing licensed gun owners to carry their firearms openly in Texas was approved by state lawmakers on Friday.
The bill, which had sparked concern from police departments across the state, is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.
Open Carry just passed in both the Texas House & Senate. Next destination: My Pen. #txlege #tcot @NRA
Police departments in the nation's second most populous state had strongly opposed the bill, particularly a provision that would have made it illegal for officers to ask someone carrying a gun if they had a permit.
Local police chiefs had been urging Abbott to veto the bill, unless that provision was nixed, which lawmakers did at the last minute before the bill cleared the legislature Friday.
At a news conference earlier this week, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the bill could endanger law enforcement and provide a way for convicts — who are not allowed to carry weapons — to circumvent the law.
"It absolutely allows criminals to carry a gun with impunity," Acevedo said, according to the Texas Tribune.
According to the Associated Press, the bill would reverse the state's ban on open carry, which had been in place since the Civil War as a way to disarm Confederate soldiers.
The state, AP reported, has issued about 850,000 concealed handgun licenses.