In the aftermath of the November 5 church attack that killed 26 people, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) chose to side with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) instead of American gun owners.
No gun-owning American should be shocked when Democrats begin the proverbial siren calls for gun control after every mass shooting. They never seem to care about any of the facts behind the shooting, and instead immediately jump to their conclusion that gun control is the answer.
But, as President Trump stated when asked about passing more gun control after the Texas shooting, it wouldn’t have stopped a thing, and would have instead given the shooter a much larger window to expand on his atrocity uninterrupted. Trump said, “If you did what you’re suggesting, there would have been no difference … and you might not have had that very brave person who happened to have a gun in his truck and shoot him, and hit him and neutralize him.”
Apparently, Cornyn doesn’t agree with the president on this. Before most of the families could even bury their loved ones, Cornyn had announced that he is filing legislation to expand the Brady-NICS background check system, which is the same system the shooter, Devin Kelley, bypassed.
To make matters worse, Cornyn has also chosen to work with Feinstein to pass her infamous “bump stock” ban that is chock-full of anti-gun proposals and outright gun bans.
This is just another example of a Texas politician being out of step with their pro-gun constituents.
While Texas citizens are staunchly pro-gun, because of the failures of the Texas political class, Texans have found themselves behind even liberal northeastern states like Maine and Vermont when it comes to gun laws.
But thankfully, there are some pro-gun leaders living up to the words of President Donald Trump in response to the shooting. State Rep. and gun rights champion Jonathan Stickland (R-TX) made it clear the only thing that will stop mass shootings is more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens.
Stickland told Bloomberg-funded the Trace, “The Texas church shooting proves the need for Constitutional Carry. It proves the need because criminals and psychopaths do not obey the law. You’re handcuffing good people who want to be armed and stop this kind of thing.”
Constitutional Carry is law in eleven states across the country, and simply codifies the Second Amendment into state law, removing state-imposed barriers for carrying a gun that are in place across the majority of the country. To simplify: If you are legally allowed to own a gun, you are legally allowed to carry a gun in Constitutional Carry states.
Thankfully, while Cornyn is aligning himself with anti-gunners like Feinstein, there are more and more elected officials joining with leaders like Stickland in support of the Second Amendment.
I think it is clear we need more Jonathan Sticklands in office and less John Cornyns.
It was the brave actions of a law-abiding gun owner who ended the horrific shooting in Texas, and the only thing that new gun controls will do is prevent good guys from arming up against bad guys in the future.
Dudley Brown is the President of the National Association for Gun Rights and a guest columnist for “Down Range with AWR Hawkins.”