Former TX State Representative Matt Rinaldi Sounds Off On Republican Cowardice on Gun Rights

Former State Representative Matt Rinaldi is disappointed with Texas Republican’s hesitance to champion gun rights.

In a piece for Texas Scorecard, Rinaldi highlighted how “Everywhere but Texas, the tide has turned in favor of gun rights.”

After all, Beto O’Rourke’s recent push for gun confiscation put Republicans across the nation on notice.

Even the Trump administration, backed off a potential gun control compromise.

Despite all of this, Rinaldi is still perplexed by how Texas Republicans are still talking about gun control.

The former State Representative also pointed out that “Oklahoma, just became the 15th state to implement permitless carry, the Texas Republican Party’s top legislative priority.”

He added, “This means you can now leave Texas and travel to Canada without ever passing through a state that does not have permitless carry.”

Texas Republicans’ failure to move the needle on gun policy clearly has Rinaldi frustrated.

Even more disappointing is how certain Republicans such as Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have endorsed universal background checks after a series of mass shootings in Texas.

To make it clear how gutless of a compromise that Patrick is undertaking, Rinaldi claims that Patrick’s gun control plan is “two-thirds of Bernie Sanders’ platform.” He adds that Texas’ “Republican-controlled House and Senate are in the process of holding at least 11 hearings to explore new gun-control proposals, giving Democrats and the media a regular platform to grandstand in swing districts that are in play for 2020 and keep the gun-control push prominently in the media through the new year.”

After the 2018 elections, which saw Democrats over-perform at the state and congressional level, Texas Republicans produced a mediocre legislative session where conservative priorities like Constitutional Carry were put on the backburner. Rinaldi notes that this “purple legislative session has depressed enthusiasm among their volunteer base and forced grassroots’ efforts to be redirected against their own party leaders, rather than taking the fight to Democrats.”

Instead, Rinaldi believes that Republicans must discard the flirtation with gun control and focus their attention on keeping the Left out of power, which is no longer a hypothetical in Texas, given its changing demographics.

He concludes that “GOP leaders need to disband the special legislative committees and focus on uniting our base for 2020. The GOP gun-control roadshow in Texas needs to end.”

If the Texas GOP wants to remain relevant, they will need to heed Rinaldi’s advice and actually carry out the key planks of their party platform.