Speaker Bonnen’s Betrayal of Texas Gun-Owners

Aaron Spuler is a firearms enthusiast and recreational shooter. Follow more or his work at The Weapon Blog

Newly elected Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Republican Dennis Bonnen, campaigned as a pro-Second Amendment candidate. However, actions speak far louder than words and we now see he lied. For the first time in decades, a Speaker has appointed anti-gun Democrats to chair the two most important House Committees for Texas gun owners. Speaker Bonnen appointed D-rated, anti-gun Democrat Poncho Nevarez as Chair of the Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee and F-rated, anti-gun Democrat Nicole Collier to Chair the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. These are the two committees that hear all gun and self-defense related bills. Committee chairmen have the sole authority to decide whether a bill in their committee will get a hearing or a vote. The net result will be every anti-gun bill filed in the House will get a committee hearing. Pro-gun bills either will not get a hearing or won’t get a committee vote in time to reach the House floor for debate and voting. Don’t be fooled. A bill can be killed by not giving it a committee vote, or by voting it out of committee too late in the session for it to reach the floor. This presumes it isn’t killed in the House Calendars Committee. (See below.)

Here is a quick breakdown of these two critical committees. The Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee has nine members, including five Republicans and four Democrats. The Republicans are all “A” rated by NRA and TSRA, but the Democrats boast three who are “F” rated and one, the Chairman, earned a “D” rating.

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