'66 UT sniper survivor against gun bill

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Jim Bryce still finds it tough to return to the University of Texas after 45 years. Standing across Guadalupe Street this week, he stared at the exact place a sniper shot his friend, Sandra Wilson.

"There were pops. Pop, pop, pop,” Bryce said. “The bullet that hit her blew off her left tricep."

Bryce had just gotten out of class and was on his way to meet Wilson at a cafe when another student, Charles Whitman, 25, opened fire from the UT Tower.

"We started telling people who were walking up and down all the hallways 'Don't go outside and don't look out the windows, because if you can see him he can see you,'” he said. “Unfortunately, one student decided to go up the stairway into the union, and I saw him shot through the window."

After police shot and killed Whitman, Bryce left the safety of the Student Union. Sixteen people died that day and another 32 were wounded.

"There was blood everywhere on the west side,” he said. “I remember people were coming out in the ambulance. Ambulances were there taking out bodies."

"Since 1997, guns have been permitted in vehicles parked on campus, and CHLs {concealed handgun licenses] have been permitted on campus sidewalks, walkways, parking areas and grounds," Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, told a House committee last week about his bill, HB 750 .

Both the Texas House and Senate now have bills to allow anyone with a concealed handgun license to carry their weapons inside campus buildings, even into classrooms. This comes just months after another shooting scare at UT, when another student brought an assault rifle to campus and eventually killed himself.

“I can see the angle of self defense and having it for protection,” Michelle Bowman said as she walked across the UT campus.

"If someone makes up their mind to come to the campus and shoot people, then obviously there's something wrong with them,” said Aaron Freeman, also on the UT campus. “Trying to shoot them back isn't going to help."

Bryce and other survivors of the 1966 shooting agree with that argument. On Tuesday, he is testifying against the bill proposed by Sen. Jeff Wentworth’s, R-San Antonio. SB 354 is before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

"To allow conceal carry on campus is going in the wrong direction,” Bryce said. “Please stop this bill."

Bryce’s friend, Wilson, is also slated to testify. She survived her wounds from that day, is now a grandmother, and is also speaking out against this legislation.

Click here to read KXAN reporter Josh Hinkle's political blog on the state's action after the 1966 shooting.