gun rights a big weapon for votes
AUSTIN Regardless of the office they're seeking or its duties, Republicans' statewide campaigns are heavy on two themes: antipathy toward the Obama administration and devotion to all things gun.
Almost every candidate has a video, website or campaign ad that shows the contender firing or carrying a gun. They also all promise to fight President Barack Obama on myriad issues, be it environmental protections, health care or banking regulations but especially on gun control.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in his hotly contested race for re election, conflates the two, touting his allegiance to gun rights that "define us as Americans" and taunting the "elitist, liberal" Democrat.
In the fundraising appeal, Dewhurst sneered: "Hey, Obama: Come and take it!"
While some are louder or more provocative than others, the Republicans from governor candidate Greg Abbott, to the four lieutenant governor contestants and into the races for attorney general, comptroller and agriculture commissioner offer platforms that are solid and similar.
Nearly all support changing the law so that concealed handgun licensees can carry their weapons in the open. They also want guns allowed on college campuses and no restrictions imposed on Internet sales or gun shows.
Recent polls show most Texans wouldn't go that far, with many favoring expanded background checks for gun sales. But University of Texas politics professor and pollster Jim Henson said the typical Republican primary voter is perhaps better described as locked and loaded.
Voters expected to cast ballots in March "are highly skeptical of the regulation of guns by any form of government," he said.
Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a candidate for lieutenant governor, explains in a campaign video that anyone who talks about gun rights in relation to hunting "misses the whole point."
"It has to do with my God given, constitutionally enumerated, natural right to defend myself with a firearm against a criminal element or against an oppressive government, from within or without," Patterson says calmly into the camera.
Henson said the notion of needing to protect themselves even from their own government, "that's out there, but that's where the Republican Party is right now."
Not to be outdone, Patterson rival Dan Patrick talks in a television ad about the right to bear arms as fundamental.
"This is not Tokyo, Wholesale Jerseys this is not Finland," he says. "This is the United States of America."
Abbott posted a stark statement of where he is on the issue in March. An ad showed Wholesale NFL Jerseys a Bible and a handgun with the statement: "Two things every American should know how to use neither of which are taught in school."
In some of his video ads, Abbott fires a shotgun. But the short clip is nothing compared to attorney general candidate Barry Smitherman's tribute, in which in a short video ad, he is shown firing three different weapons.
Alice Tripp of the Texas State Rifle Association said she wouldn't presume to know why Republicans are rallying around gun issues. But she's glad they are.
Currently in Texas, it is illegal to purposefully show a handgun in public. But the Republican candidates support an "open carry" law, which a majority of states have. While the issue has been percolating for several years, it's just begun to catch the spotlight.
"I don't think the candidates are creating the issue; I think the issue is finding the candidates," she said.
Tripp pointed out that 760,000 Texans are licensed for concealed handguns, and many would like to carry their weapon in the open.
"Those people would like, with a license, to be able to pump gas or go into a 7 Eleven in the middle of August and not put their coat on," she said.
Most of the GOP primary races are contested, and some will be very close. Adherence to expanded gun rights could make the difference, Tripp said.
But Kellye Bowman of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America said most Texans are for responsible background and mental illness screening.
And she predicted most Texans would feel apprehensive in public with people not knowing if they're good, bad, licensed or not walking around with guns on their hips.
"I feel like my state, which I love dearly, is being hijacked by gun fanatics. And the politicians are jumping on board because it motivates their base," Bowman said.
The fifth generation Texan said she grew up around guns. But she's concerned enthusiasts are stoking paranoia about crime, which is well below the levels of previous decades, and confiscations, which have never been proposed.
"The whole position of extremist politicians is predicated on fear of the bogeyman," Bowman said. Politicians are fueling false assumptions because, "The way you win a primary in Texas is to gin up the Republican base."
She said the issue is not partisan.
"People like Greg Abbott and company are trying to make gun reform a party issue. But I can promise you from a mom's perspective, it's not true," Bowman said. "Bullets don't know if a kid's parents are Republican or Democrat."
Nevertheless, Henson suggested that Republican positions on guns, while probably not in line with the majority of voters in a general election, wouldn't make much difference in November. Mostly, he said, there isn't much outrage in Texas over the issue.
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