Why booing might be the least of Cornyn's problems

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Sen. John Cornyn led the charge from the GOP side to strike a deal over gun control in the Senate. The deal he struck wasn’t the worse possible deal humanly possible, but it wasn’t exactly a great deal, either. After all, it still moved the needle toward more gun control.

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A lot of people aren’t thrilled by what transpired.

They were so unthrilled that, late last week, they made their feelings known to the senator from Texas.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn got booed by attendees at the state’s GOP convention on Friday over his involvement in negotiating a bipartisan bill focused on gun reform and mental healthcare after recent mass shootings in America.

Cornyn’s speech at the Texas GOP convention on Friday was nearly 20-minutes long and attendees shouted at the Senator for almost the entire speech, according to The Houston Chronicle.

“No gun control!,” the crowd shouted, according to the report.

Cornyn retorted, “I’m as passionate as you are about something called the United States Constitution.”

However, a lot of people aren’t feeling that, which may mean trouble for Cornyn moving forward.

Now, understand that he was just reelected in 2020. He’s got another four years in office at a minimum, so there’s not much chance of him being bounced from the Senate any time soon. However, if his constituency is that far against him, he’s going to have to do a lot of work to try and repair that image or else follow Rep. Chris Jacobs’s lead.

See, Second Amendment advocates have a very long memory. There are those who are still holding Smith & Wesson accountable for signing a deal with the Clinton administration against the company, for crying out loud. Does anyone really think Cornyn is going to get a pass?

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Is that fair to Cornyn? Probably.

You see, while I get why he did what he did, it doesn’t change the fact that he basically sold the Second Amendment advocates out. He moved the needle.

Further, what he and other Republican lawmakers basically did is signal to anti-gun jihadists that they actually think guns are the problem, that they’re too easy to obtain. This makes it that much more difficult for the rest of us.

So yeah, he got booed.

If he’s very, very fortunate, that’s the worst he’ll get over the next four years.

I don’t think it will be, though. I think he’s going to spend the rest of his time in office looking at an exit strategy. He needs to find a place to land when he’s bounced from office by a constituency that has no tolerance for people selling out our rights.

Cornyn can say he cares about the Constitution all he wants, but unless he does something drastic to actually show that he does, his words will continue to ring hollow. Selling out gun rights advocates to get a little good press from a media that will blast him at the very next opportunity isn’t exactly something we’re willing to tolerate much.

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