San Antonio police chief, Bexar County DA blame city's rising crime on Texas' open-carry gun law
Published: Thu, 03/09/23
San Antonio police chief, Bexar County DA blame city's rising crime on Texas' open-carry gun law
'I feel less safe in my own neighborhood than I did 10 years ago,' Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales said.
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus addresses the crowd at a Tuesday night town hall.
Michael Karlis
San Antonio Current
By Michael Karlis
Wed, Mar 8, 2023 at 2:13 pm
San Antonio Police Chief William McManus and Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales on Tuesday told North Side residents that the city's rising crime rate is largely due to Texas' lax gun laws.
"There are more aggravated assaults with a firearm, more complaints about gunfire and more people accidentally shooting themselves than ever before that I can remember — and I've been around for a long time," McManus told the crowd of more than 100 at a town hall hosted by District 8 Councilman Manny Pelaez.
San Antonio's homicide rate jumped nearly 55% between January 2022 and January 2023, according to the San Antonio Police Department's annual Uniform Crime Reports.
In a poll taken during the meeting, roughly half in attendance, including Gonzales, said they felt less safe in their neighborhood than they did 10 years ago.
Gonzales, who said he's a gun owner and often carries a firearm, told the crowd his office experienced a dramatic rise in gun violence around September 2021, when the Texas Legislature made it legal for most people over 21 to carry a handgun without a permit.
“We have seen an increase in gun violence at about the same time that we've seen open carry,” Gonzales said.
Before the passage of that law, championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, those wanting to publicly carry a firearm had to take a class in firearm safety to obtain a permit. During that same session, the GOP-controlled legislature passed at least six other laws loosening gun ownership restrictions.
"Today, you can buy a gun off the street from anybody and use it without any training, Gonzales said. "What we see in my office is people pulling guns quicker than before."
McManus added that the rise in gun ownership, combined with a lack of inhibition in using firearms to settle disputes, has prompted a dramatic rise in gun violence.
"You have ex-boyfriends shooting their ex-girlfriends' new boyfriends, you have sons shooting fathers, fathers shooting sons inside their residence, women shooting their ex-boyfriends' new girlfriends," McManus said. "I mean, it's crazy what's going on out there."
What's more, McManus said a staffing shortage at SAPD makes it more difficult to solve those crimes. San Antonio had 48 police officer vacancies as of last week, according to City Manager Erik Walsh, who was also at the meeting.
On average, it takes SAPD six minutes to respond to an emergency call and upwards of 17 minutes to arrive at a non-emergency call, the chief said. That means suspects are often long gone before cops arrive.
And when police do make an arrest, the situation doesn't get much better at the District Attorney's Office, Gonzales said.
Starting pay for a first-year prosecutor fresh out of law school at the office is a meager $68,000 — far less than the $88,000 offered by Harris County, the DA said. The office also must compete with large law firms, which can pay $150,000 or more.
"What happens is that the [prosecutors] that are left behind are doing double the work for the same pay," Gonzales said. "At some point, what are we going to tell the victims of crime? 'I'm sorry. We can't get to your case because we don't have enough prosecutors to handle the case?' That is unacceptable."
Gonzales said that if San Antonio residents want to rein in gun violence and property crime, they should call their county commissioner and demand more funding for the DA's office.