Asked in September whether a federal ban on semi-automatic rifles was still on the table, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico didn’t hedge.
“Absolutely,” he told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert.
That wasn’t a slip. As a state representative, Talarico co-authored a bill to report Texans to the sheriff for buying two guns in five days, co-authored a felony for transferring America’s most popular rifle to adults under 21, voted three times against Constitutional Carry, wrote a bill to let the state deny carry licenses at its discretion, and tried to criminalize open carry in public libraries.
His record isn’t a mystery. It’s written into the bills.
Reported for Buying Two Guns
The clearest window into Talarico’s thinking is HB 22, a 2023 bill he coauthored.
Under HB 22, a gun store selling one buyer more than one firearm, or more than three detachable magazines, within five consecutive days would have had to report that buyer to the Texas Department of Public Safety before completing the sale. The report would identify the buyer, include a copy of the buyer’s ID, and list what was purchased. Within 24 hours, DPS would forward it to the sheriff of the store’s county and the sheriff of the buyer’s home county. A store that failed to report would face a Class B misdemeanor.
No crime. No accusation. Just a Texan buying two pistols, or a rifle and a shotgun, or four magazines for a weekend at the range…and landing in a file at two sheriff’s offices.
That’s a gun owner registry scheme, built one purchase at a time.
A Seven-Year Pattern
HB 22 fits an established record that began in Talarico’s first session.
In 2019, he authored HB 3508, which would have changed Texas’ License to Carry law from “shall issue” to “may issue” for both new licenses and renewals. A Texan who met every legal requirement could still be turned down at the government’s discretion.
His HB 3507 would have required a federal background check through a licensed dealer before a Texan could lend a firearm to a friend at a shooting range, unless the friend was a license holder, a peace officer, or a dealer. Hand a neighbor a rifle at the range without the paperwork, and the lender faced a fine of up to $1,500. His HB 3506 would have voided out-of-state carry licenses for anyone who established a domicile in Texas, stripping recognition from license holders the moment they became Texas residents.
Talarico didn’t write those bills alone. According to the New York Post, the legislative aide who helped him craft all three was Ana Lopez, a former leader of the University of Texas “Cocks Not Glocks” movement, which handed out sex toys on campus to mock licensed Texans carrying for self-defense. When Talarico arrived in Austin, he hired a campus-carry protester to help write his gun bills.
That September, he signed a House Democratic Caucus letter to Gov. Greg Abbott demanding red flag orders, which allow gun confiscation without due process, along with expanded background checks, a ban on the sale of what the letter called “high-capacity magazines,” and limits on openly carrying certain semi-automatic long guns.
In 2021, Talarico voted against Constitutional Carry three times. After it became law, he complained that it lets Texans carry “without training and without a license.”
In 2023, he put his name on more:
- HB 2744 would have made it a state jail felony to sell, rent, lease, or give a semi-automatic rifle above .22 caliber that accepts a detachable magazine to anyone under 21, outside narrow exceptions for peace officers, service members, and veterans. A 20-year-old could vote and serve in the military, but whoever sold or gave him an AR-15 could be charged with a felony. It cleared committee 8-5 and died in Calendars without a floor vote.
- HB 236 would have made it a Class A misdemeanor to sell or give a gun to a friend or neighbor without running a federal background check through a dealer, with an exception only for close family. Universal background checks are the foundation of universal gun registration.
- HB 220 would have widened Texas’ handgun-transfer offenses to cover every firearm.
In 2025, he filed House Bill 5025 to make it a crime for a law-abiding Texan to openly carry a handgun in a public library, even with a License to Carry and the gun secured in a holster. It banned visible handguns on library premises “regardless of whether the handgun is holstered,” with no exception for license holders. It died in committee.
The Gun-Control Lobby Knows Where He Stands
Talarico’s own words go further than his bills.
At a September 2020 candidate forum, he listed his gun-control priorities: universal background checks, “closing the gun show loophole,” a ban on semi-automatic rifles, a ban on standard-capacity magazines, “restricting large firearm purchases,” and “handgun design safety standards,” according to The Reload and the Daily Caller News Foundation, which also reported that he floated “a tiered certification system for gun licensure.”
In May 2023, after a House committee advanced the under-21 rifle bill, he thanked Moms Demand Action and Everytown and called AR-15s “weapons of war.”
In the same NewsNation interview where he said “absolutely,” Vittert asked whether he would support a federal ban on semi-automatic rifles or standard-capacity magazines. “Depending on the details of the legislation, yes,” Talarico said. His campaign website still promises “passing universal background checks.”
The national gun-control movement has noticed. Everytown endorsed him in 2020 in its push for a gun-control majority in the Texas House. In May 2026, GIFFORDS PAC endorsed his Senate campaign, praising his push for “expanded background checks, stronger safe storage requirements and a higher minimum age for semiautomatic weapons purchases” and noting he “has opposed dangerous permitless carry legislation.” It has given $3,500 to his campaign.
On Oct. 13, Michael Bloomberg, founder and chief funder of the Everytown network, gave $2.5 million to Lone Star Rising PAC, the super PAC backing Talarico.
The groups that want to ban America’s most popular rifle are not guessing about James Talarico. They are reading the same record Texans can read.
“James Talarico says he respects the Second Amendment, but his record says otherwise,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights. “You cannot claim to defend the right to keep and bear arms while writing bills that turn licensed Texans into criminals, report gun buyers to the sheriff, and keep a ban on America’s most popular rifle on the table. Talarico has to pick one.”
None of this comes from his opponents. It comes from bills he wrote, bills he signed onto, votes he cast, and answers he gave on camera. The record is his.
Chris McNutt is president of Texas Gun Rights.