Sen. Ted Cruz has been a voracious defender of the Second Amendment during these troubled times. While anti-gunners routinely make bizarre claims that remain unchecked by the mainstream media, Cruz continues his defiance as the push to restrict our Second Amendment rights.

In fact, for a while, it seemed most politicians from Texas would do just as much.

However, those days seem to be fading, and with it may go Cruz’s alliances with some of them.

Asked on Thursday if he supported Patrick’s specific measure — which would not affect private sales between friends and families — Cruz compared it to the notion of universal background checks.

“The consistent focus of Democrats in Congress is precisely the proposal that you laid out — it is mandating that all private person-to-person sales have a federal background check,” he said at a breakfast hosted by The Christian Science Monitor. “That’s a mistake.”

Cruz was pressed on the fact that Patrick’s idea would focus only on private gun transactions between strangers — and not all private person-to-person sales. He was asked if that distinction would change his feelings.

The senator demurred.

“Dan Patrick is a good man,” he said, before noting that his focus is on policy proposals under consideration in Congress. “I have every confidence the Legislature in Texas will debate and consider these issues. Thankfully, I serve in a different lunatic asylum.”

The rub could mark a rare schism between two of the most powerful Republicans in Texas.

Or, of course, it may not.

While it’s unlikely that Cruz agrees with Patrick–and Patrick’s proposal is one that will likely be too far for Republicans and not far enough for Democrats, so dead on arrival no matter who you talk too–it’s also possible that Cruz simply disagrees with him on this one issue and that’s the end of it. Few people agree on everything, after all.

To call it a schism might be going a bit far.

However, it does appear fair to say that Cruz isn’t a fan of universal background checks regardless of what form they take. I don’t blame him. Hell, even if you held it to a proposal like Patrick’s, it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out that doesn’t work and tries to expand them. All you’ll do is kick the can down the road for a year or two. At most.

I do have to applaud Cruz for referring to Congress as simply “a different lunatic asylum.” It’s certainly an apt description, to say the least. Especially since legislators continue to double down on failed policies like gun control.

Cruz may not be distancing himself from Patrick in general, but he’s clearly distancing himself from the idea of universal background checks. That’s a smart move because while Patrick’s proposal was motivated as more of a “do something” kind of thing, it won’t work and anyone who pauses to think about it will realize it won’t work. Cruz did, so he’s stepping away.

Well, that and the unconstitutional nature of the proposal, anyway.