Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis is shifting the conversation from her own personal story to the rights of gun owners, coming out in support of open carry in the Lone Star state.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Davis bucked her party’s position and announced her support for an open-carry law in Texas that would allow permit-holders to wear a pistol on their hip in public. The former state senator joins her Republican gubernatorial counterpart, Attorney General Greg Abbott, in backing such legislation.
Davis, who rose to fame after an 11-hour filibuster against proposed anti-abortion regulations, told the AP she “supports expanding gun rights in Texas,” and that includes provisions allowing for open-carry. Such a law, she said, should give property owners the right to choose what firearms they allow on their property. However, requiring both background checks and training “help ensure that only mentally stable, law-abiding citizens may marry, whether concealed or open.”
Adviel Huerta, a spokesman for Abbott, questioned Davis’ announcement of support.
“Sen. Wendy Davis’ new pro-gun stance may help improve her low grade with the NRA, but it won’t help her [be] a straight shooter when it comes to the facts of her anti-gun record,” he told the AP in a statement.
And the Texas Democrat hasn’t always been in favor of affording Texans such Second Amendment rights. Davis currently retains an “F” rating from the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund, though she did vote in favor of several bills in the Texas state Senate expanding the rights of gun owners, including one that allows firearms to be kept in vehicles on college campuses. However, in 2011, the Fort Worth native voted against a bill allowing concealed carry on college campuses.
Davis, who herself is a gun owner, has pushed for tougher restrictions regarding gun shows, though. According to the Texas Tribune, as a Fort Worth city councilor in 2008, she attempted to limit the dealers allowed to sell firearms on city-owned property.
“She has a proven record of attempting to pass what we consider to be bad regulations,” James Dark, executive director of the Texas State Rifle Association, said at the time.
Calling the pursuit of legislation pertaining to gun shows “like spitting in the wind,” Davis told the Texas Tribune she would, however, sign a bill requiring background checks at gun shows if she were elected governor.
According to NRA spokeswoman Jacqueline Isaacs, there are thousands of NRA members living in the Lone Star state. And Davis’ pivot to the Second Amendment — in a state that looks fondly on the right to bear arms, nonetheless — isn’t just a coincidence.
“This is an election-year conversion for Wendy Davis,” Isaacs told Red Alert Politics in an email. “Voting records speak volumes, and as a state legislator Wendy earned an F-rating from the NRA by voting against the Second Amendment repeatedly. Her about-face lacks credibility,
and Texans know that.”
But Davis’ announcement of support for open-carry has not been met with praise from her fellow Democrats.
Emmanuel Garcia, spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party, told the Associated Press there is “little or no public safety justification for open carry.”
And anti-gun groups agree. Kellye Burke, who heads Texas’ chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said the open carry of guns “is meant to be a sign of intimidation.”
