Guns to become campaign centerpiece
You can take this to the proverbial bank: The campaign for Texas governor in 2022 is going to turn on guns. Yes, Texans’ view of gun ownership is going to determine who gets elected governor next year.
Having said that, I want to ensure that you understand my view on guns, gun ownership and gun control.
I own two rifles. They are locked up, hidden. Two people know where they are and my wife and I ain’t talkin’.
Thus, I value gun ownership. My two firearms were given to me by my father. One was a gift for Christmas; the other was bequeathed to me by Dad after he got it back from a friend who had borrowed it years earlier.
Gun control, thus, is not the bogeyman issue that Republicans have created. I believe in responsible gun legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of goofballs. So does Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat who this week announced his intention to run for Texas governor next year.
His likely opponent in the fall — presuming they both win their parties’ primaries — will be Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor this year signed a bill into law that allows anyone to carry a pistol; no permit needed. Just strap it on and walk around with the six-shooter on your hip.
O’Rourke is not going to “disarm” Texans, as Abbott is suggesting. He cannot do so without amending the Constitution, which declares that our right to “keep and bear arms” is written into one of our civil liberties. Do you think the governor of a state — this state! — has the power to effect such a dramatic change? Hardly.
Rest assured, though, that guns will dominate this coming year’s campaign for Texas governor. It was a huge factor in defeating the last Democrat to hold the office, Ann Richards, in 1994. Richards had the bad judgment to veto a bill in the 1993 Legislature that set up a concealed handgun carry permit process. We eventually got that permit process approved, but now it’s been supplanted by the anything-goes bill that became law this year.
We should just lock ‘n load and get ready for the rhetorical barrage.