Campus carry has been the law of the land for a decade in Texas, but when the fall 2016 semester started at UT-Austin, some students decided to stage a novel protest: carrying sex toys instead of guns.
Dubbed "C***s Not Glocks", the campaign was the brainchild of Jessica Jin. When Jin moved to California, however, she passed the torch (or something vaguely shaped like a torch) to a woman named Ana Lopez. And as it turns out, one of Lopez's first jobs after graduating was a gig as a legislative aide to Texas state Rep. James Talarico, where she helped draft multiple pieces of gun control legislation introduced by the lawmaker in 2019.
Lopez served as a legislative aide to Talarico from January through May of that year, and her LinkedIn profile touts work on bills to end concealed carry reciprocity in Texas, require background checks to rent firearms at sport shooting ranges, and tighten requirements to obtain gun licenses.
... At the same time, Talarico has maintained that he's "not interested in taking anyone's guns" away.
Recently unearthed video showed Talarico indicating he'd back a ban on semi-automatic weapons and large-capacity magazines, and support restrictions on large firearm purchases.
"James Talarico is coming for Texas' oil & gas, barbecue, and Second Amendment rights. Good luck with that," National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Samantha Cantrell told The Post.
None of Talarico's bills came close to passage in the Republican-controlled legislature, but it wasn't for a lack of trying.
HB 3508 would have repealed the state's "shall issue" concealed carry licensing scheme and replaced it with a "may issue" system. The legislation struck the mandate that the Department of Public Safety issue permits to "any applicant who meets all the eligibility requirements and submits all the application materials." Instead, the DPS would have been given the authority to deny a license "based on the preponderance of the evidence," without providing any detail or limitations about what would constitute evidence of unsuitability or disqualifying actions.
Texas lawmakers not only rejected Talarico's bid to turn the state into East California, but went in the opposite direction two years later when they adopted permitless carry over his objections.
While the New York Post says Lopez worked on a bill to end concealed carry reciprocity in Texas, the text of the bill shows that it was actually aimed at removing recognition for any permit issued by another state to a Texas resident. In other words, someone moving from a state that has reciprocity with Texas would have to go through the process of obtaining a Texas permit before they could lawfully carry, even though their permit would be valid if they were only visiting the Lone Star State.
Talarico's campaign has tried to deflect away questions about his failed gun control bill and his decision to hire an activist who was preaching "Take It and Come" not long before she went to work at the statehouse, with a campaign spokesman telling the New York Post that the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate "agrees with the vast majority of Texans that we must protect the Second Amendment while also enacting popular, common-sense measures like universal background checks that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals."
Universal background checks don't actually keep criminals from getting their hands on guns. At best they serve as a chargeable offense after someone's been caught with one, but they do nothing to proactively block criminals from buying a gun through a private sale or on the black market.
It's telling that Talarico's spokesman gave an example of what a "common sense measure" would look like, but failed to offer any example of Talarico protecting the Second Amendment. The truth is that the Democrat hasn't done anything to safeguard the right to keep and bear arms during his time in office. Instead, he's repeatedly taken shots at the right to keep and bear arms, including a vague statement in 2020 about President Trump allowing "weapons of war on our streets and in our classrooms."
Talarico has claimed to support the Second Amendment, but there's simply no evidence of that in his legislative record. And instead of surrounding himself with individuals who do see the importance of the right to keep and bear arms, he's hired at least one anti-gun activist who believes "that guns have absolutely no place" in our society and "couldn't agree more" with former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy that "the proliferation of gun culture is absolutely a public health issue" and is "damaging to every aspect of the American dream.”
If we're judged by the company we keep, then James Talarico is an anti-2A extremist who sees no value whatsoever in the Second Amendment, but knows that coming out and saying that would ensure his defeat this November. I think Ken Paxton is a deeply flawed candidate as well, to be honest, but when it comes to the right to keep and bear arms Paxton has consistently shown respect for the Second Amendment, while Talarico has consistently displayed his contempt.
