Contents • • • • • • • • History [ ] The Office of the Attorney General was first established by executive ordinance of the government in 1836. The attorneys general of the Republic of Texas and the first four attorneys general under the 1845 state constitution were appointed by the governor. The office was made elective in 1850 by constitutional amendment. The Attorney General is elected to a four-year term. In 2013, former Attorney General Greg Abbott announced he would not seek reelection and would run for Governor. In November 2014, he was elected as the Governor of Texas.

Defeated former House Representative Dan Branch in the Republican primary by a 26% margin and was elected easily in the general election as the 50th Attorney General of Texas, (there is a historical dispute whether he is the 50th or 51st Attorney General). Was sworn in on January 5, 2015, in the Senate Chamber in the Texas Capitol. Governor, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, United States Senator Ted Cruz, and Lieutenant Governor-Elect Dan Patrick all participated in the swearing-in ceremony.

Duties and responsibilities [ ] The Attorney General is charged by the state constitution to defend the laws and constitution of Texas, represent the state in litigation, and approve public bond issues. There are nearly 2,000 references to the Office of the Attorney General in state laws. To fulfill these responsibilities, the Office of the Attorney General serves as legal counsel to all boards and agencies of state government, issues legal opinions when requested by the governor, heads of state agencies and other officials and commissions, and defends challenges to state laws and suits against both state agencies and individual employees of the state. These duties include representing the Director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in appeals from criminal convictions in federal courts. The Office of the Attorney General, Law Enforcement Division employs a staff of sworn commissioned Texas peace officers (state police) that investigate public corruption, violent crime, human trafficking, money laundering, medicaid provider fraud, mortgage fraud, election violations, cybercrime, fugitives (apprehension), investigate other special classes of offenses, and conduct criminal investigations at the request of local prosecutors. In addition, the Law Enforcement Division is the state of Texas liaison to Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) and the U.S.

Dec 22, 2017 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has made it clear he thinks it’s perfectly fine for people to carry loaded weapons into houses of worship. State and local consumer agencies in Texas. Texas Office of the Attorney General Website: Texas Office of the Attorney General; Phone Number: 512-463-2185.

Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The office is also charged with proceedings to secure child support through its Child Support Division. List of Texas Attorneys General [ ] List of office holders, with the dates they assumed and left office, as well as political party affiliation Attorney General Took office Left office Political Party February 21, 1846 May 7, 1846 John W.

Harris May 7, 1846 October 31, 1849 October 31, 1849 January 15, 1850 January 15, 1850 August 5, 1850 August 5, 1850 August 2, 1852 Thomas J. Jennings August 2, 1852 August 4, 1856 August 4, 1856 August 2, 1858 August 2, 1858 August 6, 1860 George M.

Flournoy August 6, 1860 January 15, 1862 Nathan G. Shelley Benjamin E. Tarver William Alexander August 9, 1866 August 8, 1867 Nov. 5, 1867 July 11, 1870 William Alexander July 11, 1870 Jan. 27, 1874 George W. 27, 1874 Apr. 25, 1876 Apr.

25, 1876 Nov. 5, 1878 George McCormick Nov. 2, 1880 James H. 7, 1882 John D. Templeton Nov. 8, 1898 Thomas Slater Smith Nov.

8, 1898 March 15, 1901 March 15, 1901 January 1,1904 Robert V. Davidson January 1,1904 January 1, 1910 Jewel P. Lightfoot January 1, 1910 August 31, 1912 James D. Walthall September 1, 1912 January 1, 1913 B. Looney January 1, 1913 January 1919 Calvin M. Serial Turcesc Havin To Ate Episoadele Din Soy Luna In Romana.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: The attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, said this about the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs. This is going to happen again. But Paxton said on 'Fox News Sunday,' at least we have the opportunity to have conceal carry. And so there's always the opportunity the gunman will be taken out before he has the opportunity to kill very many people.

Attorney General Paxton, who's a Republican, joins us from Beaumont, Texas. Welcome to the program. KEN PAXTON: Well, thanks for having me on - obviously a difficult day for Texans and particularly the people of Wilson County. SIEGEL: Yeah. But are we hearing you right in saying that the best, if not the only response, to these shootings is for worshippers to take their guns to church?

PAXTON: Well, so it's not the only response certainly. But it is a way of protecting innocent people and innocent lives. I mean, first responders in a rural community are sometimes 20 to 30 minutes away. And even in urban settings, they can be five, six, seven minutes away. And obviously with an automatic weapon, it's difficult unless you have somebody in the church that can defend, either paid professionals, which - a church I go to in the Dallas area has security that they pay. But they are a big church, and they can afford it. But some churches may not have those resources, and so they might have to train their own people and be prepared if somebody like this comes in to harm their people.

SIEGEL: You know, a reporter who's based in San Antonio told us yesterday from Sutherland Springs that that town is a place where everybody owns a gun. Isn't this a case of gun ownership - mass gun ownership being ineffective to stop a killer with a powerful rifle? I think it's because the law in Texas is a little confusing on this point.

It's actually prohibited. You can't conceal carry in a church. The church is supposed to give notice of that in order to keep you from doing that.

But you technically - the way the law's written, you actually have to violate the law to carry even though there's no punishment if there's no notice. So I just think when people read the statute - I've read it, and it's somewhat confusing. Even though technically people can carry in a church, if you read the statute, you might pretty much think you were committing a crime if you did. SIEGEL: So - but are you - you're saying they're misreading the law, or the law should make it easier to conceal carry in church,. PAXTON: I'm saying the law should be more clear.

It technically allows you to carry, but it's not clear when you read it that you can carry and not suffer some consequence. SIEGEL: And I'm just curious what you would make of the fact that the gunman in this case was dressed in tactical gear. I gather he effectively was wearing body armor of some kind. What kind of a weapon would a security guard have needed to vie with him or a member of the church given how he presented himself? The History Of Art As A Humanistic Discipline Pdf Reader.

PAXTON: Well, you know, all I know is that you do your best to train. And at least when somebody is trained and they do have some type of weapon, there is a chance of diverting that person, slowing him down, giving law enforcement more time to get there. There's no perfect solution for this. This is a, you know - obviously unsolvable in some ways. But there are ways to make it more likely that more people are going to live. SIEGEL: Just one last question. For somebody in another part of the country where there isn't as much support for gun ownership, what do you say to that person whose reaction is simply, nobody needs to have a - an AR-15 model gun, effectively an assault rifle, a semiautomatic weapon - just not necessary, and we should just ban them?

PAXTON: I guess I'd say, you know, they're naive because people - you can put that law out there, and the law-abiding people will likely follow it. And that's what law-abiding citizens do. People who are not law-abiding by definition don't follow the law.

So you're arming people that are evil, and you're taking away protection from people that are law-abiding who would use it merely as a defense mechanism as opposed to an offensive weapon to kill people. SIEGEL: Assuming that there would be a mass black market in semi-automatic weapons, is what you're saying.

You would you just assume that. PAXTON: And we know that there's black markets in everything that people want - right? - drugs, whatever. Just name it. If people want it, there's a black market. And so to be naive and say that there wouldn't be for guns is I think unrealistic. SIEGEL: Attorney General Ken Paxton, attorney general of the state of Texas, thanks for talking with us today.

PAXTON: Hey, thank you. Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website and pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by, an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary.

The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.