PHOTO BY DAVID LOWE Suzanna Hupp signs a copy of her book “From Luby’s to the Legislature” for John and Jane Bumpus Thursday night at the Lampasas Public Library. A portion of the proceeds benefitted the library. Although she is one of Texas’ most prominent Second Amendment advocates, Suzanna Hupp doesn’t know -- or care -- much about the intricacies of different guns. She doesn’t hunt. She considers herself just an average shooter.

When she speaks to defend what she considers a constitutional right to carry firearms, however, Mrs. Hupp becomes passionate.

The Lampasas County resident, a former member of the Texas House of Representatives, recently released her book “From Luby’s to the Legislature.” The autobiographical account discusses Mrs. Hupp’s parents’ deaths in the Oct. 16, 1991 Luby’s cafeteria massacre in Killeen and Mrs. Hupp’s gun rights advocacy since the shooting.

Suzanna Hupp’s book relates her fight against gun control after the death of her parents at Luby’s in 1991. Mrs. Hupp, who said she has told the story of the Luby’s slayings thousands of times, said audience members often asked her after her speeches if she had a book they could recommend to friends or family members unsure of whether people should be allowed to carry guns in public. Many of Mrs. Hupp’s fans who encouraged her to write were men hoping to convince a wife or girlfriend who opposed concealed carrying of firearms.

“I think they felt that I put forth a different face on the issue,” Mrs. Hupp said, “and they hoped it would change some minds about what the Second Amendment is about.”

Mrs. Hupp believes Americans’ right to carry firearms allows them to protect themselves -- a right she believes was denied on Oct. 16, 1991. Before dining with her parents at Luby’s, Mrs. Hupp left her revolver in her car -- “the stupidest decision” of her life, she wrote in her book.

At the time, carrying a weapon on one’s person was illegal in Texas, and Mrs. Hupp feared losing her chiropractor’s license if caught with a gun.

Even in the most skillful hands, a gun cannot ensure a law-abiding citizen’s safety, Mrs. Hupp said. Since her parents’ deaths in the cafeteria shooting, however, the Lampasan has wondered many times whether the outcome might have changed if she had been armed.

“Guns are not a guarantee,” Mrs. Hupp said. “They just change the odds. All of a sudden your granny in a wheelchair is on equal footing with the thugs trying to steal her Social Security check.”

Signed into law by then-governor George W. Bush, a bill allowing licensed Texans to carry a concealed weapon took effect in January 1996. Mrs. Hupp represented Texas House District 54 from 1997 to January 2007, a decade during which legislation broadened the list of places people could carry guns.

As a legislator, Mrs. Hupp on several occasions filed a bill that would have allowed concealed carry on college campuses. The bill never was approved, however.

Mrs. Hupp also believes teachers in public school districts should be allowed to carry concealed firearms for protection on campus.

State law allows school districts to let teachers with handgun licenses carry weapons into classrooms. The Harrold ISD school board in October 2007 voted unanimously to allow staff members who have Texas concealed carry licenses and who follow specific school district policies to carry guns on campus. Harrold, a small town in Wilbarger County, is west of Wichita Falls.

“I want my teachers to be able to protect themselves and my children if they want to,” Mrs. Hupp said.

In working to expand the areas where people legally may carry concealed weapons, Mrs. Hupp said she often argues that prohibiting guns allow criminals to inflict more damage than if people could keep firearms with them for defense. “Gun-free zones,” Mrs. Hupp said, are “shopping lists for madmen.”

“Every single one of the mass shootings occured where people weren’t allowed to carry guns,” she said. “If guns are the problem, why haven’t we seen mass shootings at skeet and trap shoots or NRA [National Rifle Association] conventions or -- my favorite -- the dreaded gun shows? That seems like such a no-brainer.”

Although she considers self-defense an important justification for gun rights, Mrs. Hupp believes the Second Amendment is equally important for protecting freedom and providing a check on government power.

“As evidenced by numerous historical revelations, an armed populace is difficult to overtake,” Mrs. Hupp said.

The mother of two Lampasas Independent School District students, Mrs. Hupp said her boys are receiving good educations. She worries, however, that many schools across the United States do not adequately educate students about citizens’ rights in a limited, constitutional government.

“People are always talking about fixing America by changing Congress or changing presidents,” she said, “and I certainly think those things are extremely important. But I think the only place we really make a difference is in our educational system.”

Although her book is a personal account, not a political treatise or statistical analysis, Mrs. Hupp hopes “From Luby’s to the Legislature” helps educate and provide a different perspective to those who are not ardent gun rights proponents.

“I think the timing is good,” she said of her book’s release, “because I think we’re going to be fighting for our rights. The more people I can get off the fence the better.”

About Suzanna Hupp

Mrs. Hupp and her husband, Greg Hupp, live near Lampasas with their sons Alex and Ethan. A retired chiropractor, Mrs. Hupp breeds and shows Arabian horses and offers equestrian lessons.

“From Luby’s to the Legislature: One Woman’s Fight Against Gun Control” is published by Privateer Publications, a San Antonio-based publisher that specializes in gunrelated topics and Second Amendment issues. The book is available at privateerpublications.com, amazon.com, borders.com and at www.suzannahupp.com.