Chupacabra Report

I don't get it; does the crazy float uphill or down?

In Washington this week the Senate Judiciary Committee reported out a bill to require universal background checks for gun sales. It did so without a single vote from any of the Republicans on the committee, including Texas Senators John Cornyn and Rafael Cruz. 

Meanwhile in Austin legislators are considering bills that would nullify any federal gun control measures, by exempting any Texas-made firearms or even jailing any law enforcement officers that attempt to enforce new federal laws. 

Legislators heard testimony from Pastor Aubrey Vaughn of the Beulah Land Baptist Church near Conroe Texas who said "It's not just a constitutional right, God has given us a basic right to bear arms." Pastor Vaughn has fought before for our "God-given rights" by going to jail for driving without a license because the Texas Department of Safety requires a Social Security number on drivers license applications, or; as Pastor Vaughn describes it, "the mark of the beast."

So are Cornyn and Cruz callously disregarding the safety and wishes of their constituents by opposing reasonable restrictions on gun sales? Or are they merely in the sway of the powerful gun lobby, fearful of being primaried by well-financed gun-waving Second Amendment zealots? Or are they simply reflecting the wishes of a minority of the state's citizens, however deranged? 

What's the difference? This is just another case where citizens of Texas will be waiting for Federal law, demographic attrition, or other glacially-paced cultural change to drag them kicking and screaming into the current century.