Texas has a proud heritage of gun ownership and Second Amendment support, so the likelihood of a vehement anti-gun candidate getting elected on a statewide basis for nearly any public office isn’t great.
Look no further than three-time loser Beto O’Rourke for proof. Running on a solidly anti-gun platform of banning AR and AK style rifles, O’Rourke lost the election for the U.S. Senate to pro-gun Sen. Ted Cruz, then failed to make it out of the primaries before the 2020 election. Finally, he lost the governor’s race to pro-gun candidate Greg Abbott in a lopsided 52% to 43% vote.
Enter Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a “pastor” who has proclaimed that God is “non-binary” and that there are really “six different genders.” While those views won’t sit well with many Texans, his views on guns and gun ownership seem to be even worse.
Talarico is vying for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the Republican primary to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. And Talarico’s thoughts on the Second Amendment should ensure that gun-rights proponents vote against Talarico this November.
In a town hall meeting in 2020, Talarico explained his reasoning on why passing more and more restrictive gun control laws is appropriate and constitutional.
“A lot of politicians like to talk about the Second Amendment,” Rep. Talarico said in the video town hall. “Very few have actually read the Second Amendment because, if they did, they would know that the words ‘well regulated’ are right there in the text of the amendment itself.”
As the National Shooting Sports Foundation pointed out in a recent news alert chronicling Talerico’s stance,
“Rep. Talarico’s suggestion that ‘well regulated’ meant that the Founders believed all along that gun rights were supposed to be heavily restricted or conditioned is as laughable as it should be disqualifying,” Larry Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel, wrote in the alert.
“We have a summer reading list for Rep. Talarico, and it begins with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Heller.”
As Keane further pointed out, in the early days of our country, “well regulated” referred to “well trained,” “well organized” or “well exercised.” Basically, the militia (of “the People”) is trained and ready to go should it be called up for duty.
Of course, that’s not Talarico’s only objectionable stance when it comes to gun owners’ rights. On a progressive podcast, he called for passage of “safe storage” laws that would mandate how citizens store their privately owned firearms—a position in direct opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Heller.
On that podcast, he equated gun control laws to the requirement for people to apply for city permits in order to hold protests and rallies on city property—a ludicrous comparison, indeed.
It was even revealed recently that Talarico employed the former head of an extremist gun control protest movement as his legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives.
As Keane wrote, while November might seem far off, the election just a little more than 100 days away.
“As Rep. Talarico continues to try to sell his anti-gun platform to voters in Texas, more of them will learn just how extreme that platform is and will reject it,” Keane concluded. “NSSF will be there to help spread the word.”
Ultimately, while there are some decidedly liberal cities in Texas—like Austin, Houston and Dallas (think failed congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who lost to Talarico in the Democratic Senate primary)—rank-and-file Texans are believers in the protections afforded by the Second Amendment and cast their votes accordingly. Hopefully, the vast majority will do so again and keep Talarico as far away from Washington, D.C., as possible.