Rick Perry is a gun guy. Famously, the Texas Governor shot and killed a coyote with a Ruger LCP during an early morning jog. More recently, Perry has thrown his support behind the Texas International Firearms Festival, a two-day gun show at Liberty Hill on November 8 and 9. Oh, and he keeps an FN FiveseveN as his bedside gun. But Perry’s not been able to move the needle on open carry in the Lone Star State. His assumptive replacement, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, has declared his intention to make it so. Yes, well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? But what about his Democratic rival Wendy “Where Did You Get Those Shoes” Davis? Here’s a shocker . . .
AUSTIN, Texas – The Wild West tradition of openly carrying your six-shooter on the street has long been banned by many cities in Texas. But the state’s next governor could change that.
Rising Democratic star and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis has joined her top Republican rival in supporting a proposed “open carry” law. It would allow people with concealed handgun licenses to wear a pistol on their hip, in full view, while in public.
Is it me or is foxnews.com reporting this important gun rights milestone with sarcastic incredulity? Never mind. Davis’ decision to back open carry won’t get her elected governor, but it will push Abbott to move from rhetoric to action. Before this announcement, Austin insiders told me open carry wasn’t in the cards. Now it is. Even better, Davis’ pro-gun stance has given her party and, of course, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayors Against Illegal Guns) conniptions.
But her party and influential Democratic colleagues, including a fellow state senator running for lieutenant governor, disagree.
“There is little or no public safety justification for open carry,” said Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party.
Kellye Burke, who leads the Texas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, also opposes Davis’ position. She said the open carry of firearms, whether rifles or pistols, “is meant to be a sign of intimidation. It’s not about protection.”
“I don’t think people are aware of it. They just haven’t seen it yet. People are completely shocked how strange and lawless it looks to have that kind of firepower in our daily life,” Burke said.
How strange it looks? That’s her best shot? Well Burke does represent, what, twenty Texans? I mean, any Texan who’s afraid of guns . . . but I digress. What does the Fox say? Republicans pounced on Davis as a flip-flopper.
Still, gun rights advocates were skeptical. Texas State Rifle Association spokeswoman Alice Tripp noted Davis’ previous calls for more restrictions on gun show sales and past votes against allowing concealed license holders to carry their guns in classrooms and buildings on college campuses.
“Wendy Davis has a very bad record as far as gun owners go,” Tripp said, calling Davis an “opportunist.”
Abbott spokesman Adviel Huerta expressed a similar sentiment.
“Sen. Wendy Davis’ new pro-gun stance may help improve her low grade with the NRA, but it won’t help it won’t help her (be) a straight shooter when it comes to the facts of her anti-gun record,” Huerta said, noting that Abbott supported an open-carry bill in the 2013 legislative session.
But veteran Democratic consultant Harold Cook said Abbott supporters have already tried to portray Davis as anti-gun.
“If the issue isn’t important to you, then it would be smart to take it off the table by saying, `Me, too; now let’s go back to talking about education and how we fund road building and the stuff the mainstream of Texas is really concerned with,”‘ he said.
I’ve got an idea! Why doesn’t the entire Democratic party take gun rights off the table by repealing civilian disarmament laws throughout the nation and putting open carry on the party platform in 2016? Just a thought . . .