Texas: Journalists Stretching the Truth…Again

[Charlie T Waite]

Journalists who have become mouthpieces for gun control groups have loudly declared victory over the NRA following the recent adjournment of the Texas Legislature.  They announced the resounding “defeat” with Texas legislators adding funds to the 2020-2021 budget for the Department of Public Safety to establish and promote a statewide safe gun storage campaign.  Since the mainstream media won’t, let’s set the record straight. 

The Statewide Safe Gun Storage Campaign was a rider added to a 1,000-page budget.  The campaign may include online materials, printed materials, public service announcements, or other advertising media.  The public awareness campaign may not convey a message that it is unlawful under state law to keep or store a firearm that is loaded or that is readily accessible for self-defense.  It is not a mandatory storage bill.  But just in case any state anti-gun groups or national gun control organizations backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg missed it, here’s the actual language:

Statewide Safe Gun Storage Campaign. Included in the amounts appropriated above in Strategy G.1.1, Headquarters Administration, is $500,000 in fiscal year 2020 and $500,000 in fiscal year 2021 in General Revenue to establish and promote a statewide safe gun storage campaign. The public awareness campaign shall begin no later than September 1, 2020. The public awareness campaign may include online materials, printed materials, public service announcements, or other advertising media. The public awareness campaign may not convey a message that it is unlawful under state law to keep or store a firearm that is loaded or that is readily accessible for self-defense.

Maybe what the state anti-gun groups or national gun control organizations believed passed were House Bill 316or, its companion bill, Senate Bill 1573.  These bills, which NRA and the Texas State Rifle Association opposed, would have directed the Department of Public Safety to establish a firearms safety campaign that would allow the department to publish its own materials "or distribute materials published by firearm safety advocacy organizations," and would even allow for unchecked gifts and donations to pay for the campaign.  HB 316 would have allowed for outside groups to corrupt the Department of Public Safety with Bloomberg-backed blank checks and untrue, biased, and slanted messages.

It shouldn’t be shocking that journalists and gun control groups are stretching the truth, but just so it’s clear:  No measures opposed by NRA-ILA passed during this legislative session in Texas.