Texas Democrats Waste No Time Going After Guns: 16 Bills Filed So Far
Nothing can better demonstrate the intent of Democrats than what they are doing at the state level just a week after capturing the Texas state House of Representatives, and the governorship during last week’s elections. Republicans still control the Texas state Senate.
Democrats have filed (so far) a total of 16 bills related to gun control, and from all indications, it looks like they are just getting started.
Likewise, watch also for more gun control in Minnesota, where Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar is already talking about her gun control agenda, promising that a ban on so-called “assault weapons”—known among gun owners as modern semiautomatic rifles, according to KWLM Radio, which reported, “One of the DFL’s top priorities will be to pass a gun safety bill…”
Gun owners in Pennsylvania, Washington and other “blue” states can also prepare for fights over Second Amendment rights, all while the nation waits for the U.S. Supreme Court to hand down a ruling sometime in 2027 on whether semi-auto rifles and pistols are protected by the Second Amendment.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is monitoring the rush by Democrats to introduce gun control legislation. In Texas, Democrat State Rep. Joe Moody has already prefiled five bills, according to CCRKBA Executive Director Andrew Gottlieb:
House Bill 173, which would make it a state jail felony to transfer a semiautomatic rifle that takes a detachable magazine and is larger than .22 caliber to anyone under 21, with exceptions for peace officers, current or honorably discharged military, and some temporary loans at a range or hunt;
House Bill 618, which would restrict transferring firearm magazines to people who are prohibited from possessing the type of firearm the magazine is made for, and would create a criminal offense.
House Bill 658, which would change the prosecution and punishment of making a firearm accessible to a child and would increase a criminal penalty;
House Bill 659, relating to requiring a licensed firearms dealer to report certain sales or transfers of multiple firearms or firearm magazines to law enforcement; creating a criminal offense.
House Bill 660, which would require certain people already prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm to dispose of firearms they own, possess, or control.
Likewise, Democrat state Rep. Suleman Lalani has filed six measures:
HB 576 would bar registered sex offenders from buying a firearm, but only for registration based on an offense committed on or after Sept. 1, 2027;
HB 606, relating to prohibiting the transfer of firearms to or the purchase or possession of firearms by persons younger than 21 years of age; creating a criminal offense;
HB 609, Relating to increasing the criminal penalty for the offense of making a firearm accessible to a child;
HB 610, Relating to prohibiting the transfer of firearms to certain recipients who are younger than 21 years of age;
HB 612, Relating to prohibiting a sex offender from possessing a firearm;
HB 613, Relating to requiring a national instant criminal background check in connection with private firearm transfers; creating a criminal offense.
State Rep. Rafael Anchia has filed a pair of bills, HB 857 and HB 859, while newcomer Rep. Pooja Sethi has also prefiled two bills, HB 771 and HB 776. Rep. Ron Reynolds has one bill so far, HB 806, and Rep. Erin Gamez has also prefiled a single measure, HB 712.
Over on the state Senate side, Sen. Judith Zaffirini has prefiled SB80, relating to prohibiting certain transfers, purchases, and possession of assault weapons; creating criminal offenses.
This certainly suggests that any entreaties—efforts to reach out to and perhaps somehow connect—toward Democrats just might be wasted efforts. The party has grabbed power and they fully intend to use it.
Gottlieb indicated to Ammoland News that CCRKBA will be keeping watch on gun control legislation.
When CCRKBA last week predicted a surge in gun sales as a result of the midterm sweep by Democrat politicians, it hit a nerve. News organizations across the country picked up on the story, and the Washington Times is reporting that John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association ‘s Institute for Legislative Action, also said he would not be surprised by a spike in gun sales.
“When politicians and their well-funded allies signal they intend to restrict the right to keep and bear arms, law-abiding citizens act while they still can,” he told The Washington Times.
Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, told Ammoland News about an exchange he had with one Washington state firearms retailer who reported that “Sales have surged, up 400% the past week.” His supplies were actually “drying up” including guns, suppressors and ammunition. Ditto reloading components for Evergreen State gun owners who reload their own.
And this is only a week after the elections. State legislatures don’t convene until January. Between now and then, the landscape could change dramatically, especially if anti-gunners overplay their hands, as they have repeatedly shown such a tendency in the past.
What else to watch for:
- Assaults on state preemption laws. Anti-gunners hate them.
- More efforts to pass permit-to-purchase firearms laws. Despite their questionable constitutionality, anti-gunners love them.
- Efforts to expand so-called “sensitive areas” even though the Supreme Court has pretty much nixed that strategy with its ruling this year in Wolford v. Lopez.
All this leaves gun rights activists to sarcastically remind one another, when was the last time the Constitution deterred gun prohibitionists from pushing the envelope?
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
