A new law has just gone into effect on Texas college campuses: It allows qualified college students to carry a gun while attending class.

“Campus Carry” now permits students age 21 and older with a concealed handgun license to be in possession of a pistol while in and around school buildings on university property, in an effort to combat school shootings, Reuters and other news outlets reported.

Related: Georgia Governor Vetoed College Campus ‘Concealed Carry’ Legislation

It was enacted in Texas on Aug. 1, the 50th anniversary of one of the most fatal U.S. campus shootings in history. On that day, 25-year-old ex-Marine and student, Charles Whitman, took 16 lives by firing from a perch on top of the clock tower located within the University of Texas at Austin campus.

Recent court rulings and state legislation have led to this move. Texas joins seven other states that have already adopted the law: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, is a strong supporter of the law and maintains it could prevent mass shootings. “What ‘Campus Carry’ does is that it only authorizes those who go through the special training and background” to have guns on campus, he said.

In addition, he notes that freshmen, sophomores, and many juniors are not even 21 yet — so only a fraction of students are even legally allowed to have a gun license in the first place.

On the other hand, a group of UT professors tried and failed to lobby against the law. In their eyes, the combination of youth, firearms, and college life is a bad recipe, with an even worse final product.

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Three of these professors sued in an attempt to block the law. Though emotions ran high, Attorney General Ken Paxton defended the law, saying it was “constitutionally sound.”

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Will this new rule improve safety on college campuses, or will it only add more violence to the mix? That question will continue to be debated.