Texas Lawmakers Trade In 'Thoughts And Prayers' For Guns And Ammo

DALLAS, TX —Riding into town for a Saturday night at the saloon is about to get a lot more exciting.

Sunday night, the Texas House gave its approval, 82-61, to a bill that would allow Texans to carry guns without a permit. Yee-haw!!

The proposal now bounces back to the Senate for one more vote before landing on Gov. Greg Abbott's desk. And the governor can't wait to sign it.

Passage of the bill is a foregone conclusion and will make the Lone Star State the largest in the nation to allow handguns to be carried in public with training and a license.

All that's at issue, really, is the logic of the thing.

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Second Amendment advocates don't have to look any further than the U.S. Constitution as justification for the proposal. In fact, that's what the bill's author Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, said during Sunday night's debate.

“A law-abiding citizen should have the Constitutional right to bear arms,” he proclaimed.

In its current form, the bill retains such Senate alterations as a free gun-safety online course and more stringent penalties for gun-toting felons, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Democrats opposed to the legislation claim that the lawmakers supporting the bill have already forgotten the El Paso massacre of two years ago. Inspired by race hatred of Hispanics, the gunman shot up a Walmart and killed nearly two dozen people before his spree ended. It's considered "the deadliest attack on Latinos in American history," according to Wikipedia.

At the time, Gov. Abbott drew criticism for offering little more than "thoughts and prayers" to the victims and their families. But after vowing to take steps to ensure there wouldn't be a recurrence of the El Paso shootout, apparently that assurance is to give more people access to more firearms.

Under the new law, citizens 21 and older unless specifically prohibited, will soon be able to carry handguns in businesses and on the streets.

Anyone who grew up watching TV westerns like Bonanza, Laredo and Gunsmoke is going to see a familiar sight as Texans strap on and saddle up for a trip into town. Anyone thinking of causing trouble will know that the residents of Texans are now armed with a hell of a lot more firepower than "thoughts and prayers."

There's just one problem. According to numerous studies, some of which were cited not long ago by Scientific American, "researchers at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University reported that firearm assaults were 6.8 times more common in the states with the most guns versus those with the least. Also in 2015 a combined analysis of 15 different studies found that people who had access to firearms at home were nearly twice as likely to be murdered as people who did not."

Dang it. That pesky logic again.

It makes perfect sense that people are frustrated and terrified by the rising tide of gun violence around the world and at home. We all detest feeling powerless in dangerous situations. But putting more guns in homes and on the streets often leads only to more people being shot to death each year.

Why won't legislators tell the truth? For some reason, Lone Star lawmakers have no problem offering up confections like "thoughts and prayers" when a mass shooting takes place. But to tell their fellow Texans that there's no evidence that more guns curb gun violence?

Them's fightin' words, Pardner.

Draw.

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