Austin City Hall removes signs prohibiting concealed carry

A 30.06 sign is a familiar greeting for people going through security at Austin City Hall.

But according to Senate Bill 273 -- signed into law and going into effect on the 1st of September, that sign can't be there.

"The property on which the license holder carries a handgun is owned or leased by a government entity.  Therefore posting of 30.06 signs on this property is prohibited," said local CHL instructor Michael Cargill, reading a letter he wrote to Mayor Steve Adler.

Cargill had an idea the signs would still be there come Tuesday morning.

"I knew that the City of Austin, the mecca of liberal...you know, Texas, was not going to remove that 30.06 sign.  So I wanted to inform them that their sign is illegally posted and that we, concealed handgun license holders in the State of Texas are fed up.  And we want to be able to protect ourselves on property that we are paying taxes for," Cargill said.

Cargill mailed the letter and decided to hand deliver a copy to the mayor.  He didn't find the mayor but Council Member Don Zimmerman found Cargill.

Cargill showed Zimmerman the sign.  Zimmerman turned the sign around and said he would speak to the mayor about it.

A security guard soon turned the sign back around, saying they hadn't been told to remove it.

We chatted with Mayor Adler to get his take on the signage and Zimmerman's way of dealing with the problem.

"I know that if we don't have the right signage we need to change our signage and I know Council Member Zimmerman to be a very passionate person.  But from my perspective if we don't have the right signs we just need to get the right signs," Adler said.

A policy adviser for Senator Donna Campbell's office, the author of the bill, tells Fox 7 "The bill does not change in any way where it is legal or illegal to carry a concealed handgun for self-protection under Chapter 46 of the penal code.  It simply gives the CHL holder a means to petition the government for redress of grievances when his or her rights are violated by political subdivisions attempting to illegally disarm citizens by posting unlawful signs."

Cargill said he would give City Hall 3 days to remove the signs.  Then he would take the matter to the Attorney General's office.

But as of Tuesday afternoon, the signs were gone for whatever reason.  The city says an official statement about the signage is coming soon.