As they old saying goes, elections have consequences. And few electorates are going to feel that quite as those in Texas. This is what happens when millions of Californians (among others) escape the hellhole the politicians they elected made of that state and set to work doing the same thing for America’s second biggest economic engine.
Every major statewide office lurched to the (anti-gun) left last week and Democrats took control of the state House as well.
In the past, Dems in the legislature engaged in a regular kabuki theater exercise of introducing bills to enact red flag laws, register guns, and ban “assault weapons,” knowing full-well that both houses were under GOP control and there was a Republican in the Governor’s office. Those bills were nothing more than boob-bait for their lefty bubba base. They were DOA when they were filed and everyone knew it.
Not any more.
Yesterday, Dems wasted no time in filing more than 1200 bills designed to transform the state and make it indistinguishable from California (from whence so many of the imports came), New York, Illinois or, most recently, Virginia.
When Abigail Spanberger and the the rest of the blue horde took over government in the Old Dominion in January, they immediately set about repaying the gun control industry that supported them in their campaign, enacting bans on “assault rifles” and “high capacity” magazines, “ghost guns” and other home-made firearms, mandated universal background checks, expanded the scope of the state’s red flag confiscation law and so much more.
Texas Democrats were clearly paying attention and a sprinkling of the anti-gun legislative mayhem they proposed yesterday includes . . .
HB 606: Gun ban for adults under 21
HB 173: Outlaw transfering semi-auto rifles more than .22 caliber to adults under 21
HB 606 Outlaw all firearm transfers to adults under 21
HB 613: Universal background checks
HB 659: Mandate reporting to multiple gun or magazine purchases to DPS
HB 218: Red flag confiscation
Those are just a taste. And these are only the bills filed on the first day they could. You can see a full list here.
The Texas legislature is only in session for 140 days every two years and the next session begins in January. Bills can be filed through next March. Still (virtually sure) to come are bills that would repeal permitless carry, campus carry and many, many more.
The only stopgap to any or all of these becoming law and decimating Texans’ gun rights is the fact that Republicans somehow retained control of the state Senate during last week’s tsunami. They’ll hold a seven-seat majority in the next session and will have to have sufficient spinal integrity to vote no. A lot.
But before Texas gun owners get too comfortable with that slim backstop protecting them, Texas Gun Rights president Chris McNutt points out that . . .
Many people are making the false assumption our rights are safe simply because we have a “red” Senate.
They clearly weren’t around when Republicans flirted with “red flag” gun confiscation without due process.
They clearly weren’t around when Republicans codified parts of the Biden-Cornyn BSCA, expanding the gun ban registry.
They clearly weren’t around when we had to FIGHT Republicans relentlessly for nearly a decade to make Texas the 21st permitless carry state.
Buckle up, Texans. You’re about to feel the force of at least some of what Virginia’s gun owners have been going through. Good and hard.