Fresh off their success in flipping the Virginia Legislature, gun-control activists are targeting the Lone Star State in the coming November election and planning an $8 million spending spree to back gun-control-supporting candidates.
First reported by the Houston Chronicle, Everytown for Gun Safety (billionaire Democrat presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control advocacy group) is planning an “unprecedented financial and grassroots effort” to flip the Texas House to Democrat control, defend vulnerable incumbent congressional Democrats, and assist in efforts to defeat Republicans in the suburbs.
“We believe that Texas, as it becomes younger and increasingly diverse, can be the next emerging battleground state with gun safety as the tipping point,” Chris Carr, the group’s political director, wrote in a memo supplied to Hearst Newspapers. “We believe there are opportunities to elect gun sense candidates up and down the ballot, from the statehouse to the U.S. Congress—and potentially even statewide.”
The move is part of a national spending spree by Everytown that aims to spend at least $60 million, more than double what it spent in the 2018 midterm elections.
Just last year, Everytown and other left-wing groups were successful in flipping both houses of the Virginia Legislature from Republican to Democrat hands and jeopardizing the rights of gun owners.
In Virginia, citizens currently enjoy better gun laws than their countrymen in the Lone Star State (Virginia, unlike Texas, does not require citizens to obtain a government license to carry a handgun openly), but attempts by the newly elected Democrat majorities to curtail the rights of gun owners through background checks, red-flag laws, and other restrictions have made nationwide news.
Conservatives in Texas have long been fighting to strengthen the state’s gun laws in advance of a coming assault against them. With Everytown announcing a significant investment in the Lone Star State, Republicans must be even more diligent and thorough in vetting their candidates and ensure they stand in full support of gun rights.
“If Virginia is the framework for gun-grabbers in Texas, we simply cannot afford to fill the legislature with Republicans who have a malleable view of the Second Amendment,” said Jon Francis, a Republican candidate for Texas House District 60. “We need real, conservative leaders who will not fold under pressure from the gun-control lobby and will boldly stand in defense of our rights without compromise.”
Texas Scorecard will continue to monitor Everytown’s activity in the Lone Star State moving forward.
Meanwhile, the Texas Senate is conducting a hearing on gun rights next week.
Gun Owners of America has more information here.
