After the deadly first weekend in August, the nation grieved over two mass shootings.   The post-shooting news cycle is predictable and annoying, and it goes something like this:

A shooting occurs,

People on social media advocate for gun control,

“Thoughts and prayers” are demonized as “not enough,” 

Politicians express sadness or outrage,

People remind us that after the LAST shooting, nothing was done,

Researchers show that whatever gun-control-measure d’jour wouldn’t have affected the most recent shooting, 

Liberals shout more loudly that we still need to do something!

The moment passes,

People forget,

A shooting occurs…

This cycle seems to be on an endless loop.

But the state of Texas broke that cycle.  Instead of issuing more restrictions on weapons, my home state has decided that the answer is more guns in more places.  USA Today reports:

At the beginning of September, 10 new laws that loosen restrictions on public gun possession will take effect in Texas, a mere month after the El Paso shooting killed 22 and injured 24.

Though Texas gun laws are some of the least restrictive in the nation, the laws will make it easier to possess guns in places of worship like churches, mosques and synagogues, apartment buildings, foster homes and public school grounds. 

The laws were passed in Texas Legislature’s last session, which concluded in June. The National Rifle Association’s lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, lobbied for all 10 of the bills.

Following the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, which killed at least 31 together, the NRA said they “will not participate in the politicizing of these tragedies” in a statement published Sunday.

Churches can still post notices that they want to be a gun-free zone.  However, the penalties for disregarding those types of signs will be reduced.

This is a wonderful development and a spot of good news in an otherwise tiring news cycle.  

I’m proud of Texas for understanding that guns are not the problem but are – in fact – a very big part of the solution.

Hat Tip: USA Today

Image Credit: Pixabay

About The Author

Mark was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, and served as the national coordinator. He left the organization to work more broadly on expanding the self-governance movement beyond the partisan divide. Mark appears regularly on television in outlets as diverse as MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC. He’s highly sought after for the tea party perspective from print and electronic media outlets, from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Examiner, Politico and the The Hill. Mark blogs at MarkMeckler.com, and his opinion editorials regularly run in many of the leading political newspapers both on and offline. Mark has a BA in English from San Diego State University and graduated with honors from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1988. He practiced real estate and business law for almost a decade. For the last eleven years of his legal career he specialized in Internet advertising law. When not fighting for the future of our nation, Mark is an avid horseman, and lives in rural northern California with his wife Patty and two children.

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