AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

More than once, I’ve mentioned how there isn’t a single state more thought of as pro-gun than Texas. While other states have done more to protect gun rights than the Lone Star State, few have the perception of being all about the firearm more than it does.

So why, then, did the Texas Speaker of the House declare constitutional carry dead? Well, it seems he didn’t take too kindly to how some activists sought him out.

Then again, I’m not so sure I’d blame him, either. After all, they came to his house.

Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen declared Friday that a “constitutional carry” gun bill was dead after a gun rights activist showed up at his Houston-area home to advocate for it.

Chris McNutt, executive director of Texas Gun Rights and a supporter of the legislation that would allow Texans to carry firearms without a license, showed up to Bonnen’s home in Lake Jackson on Wednesday to question why the bill had stalled, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Bonnen, a Republican, was in the state capital of Austin but his wife teenage sons were inside the home. He said McNutt’s actions were a demonstration of “insanity” and called him an “overzealous advocate for criminals to get a gun.”

“If you want to talk about issues and you want to advocate, you do it in this building. You don’t do it at our residences,” Bonnen said. “Threats and intimidation will never advance your issue. Their issue is dead.”

Now, I get why McNutt was antsy. Four months is a long time to wait on a bill that one would think had a high likelihood of passing. I don’t imagine I’d just sit there and not want answers.

However, you don’t show up at a lawmaker’s home unannounced. I mean, it’s different if you’re old friends and you’re just stopping by to chat. It’s still not good manners, in my opinion, but it’s at least understandable. Even if you want to talk about a stalled bill, it’s a little different.

But that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Now we see what happens.

Folks, it’s easy to sit there and argue that these people work for us. I’m not going to disagree with that. But on the same token, how would you react to people who are displeased with you showing up at your home while your wife and kids were there alone?

Doing crap like this never helps. It was a boneheaded move that did nothing to advance gun rights in Texas. In fact, it set them backward. For Bonnen, this is going to come up for him not only when constitutional carry comes up for consideration, but also whenever gun control comes up in general. Want to know how you create a gun-grabbing Republican? That’s how you do it.

Make no mistake, while McNutt may have meant nothing by it, it’s not hard to see how something like this could be considered threatening. “I know where you live and I know what I want you to do,” after all.

This is not how you win friends and influence people, folks. This may be activism, but it’s dumb.