Texas Congressman Wants to Overhaul Post-Uvalde Gun Control Laws

U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt will introduce legislation today that would repeal or halt funding to many of the gun-related provisions in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act; the sweeping gun control bill that was adopted shortly after the Uvalde shooting in 2022. 

According to Hunt, a two-term congressman and retired Army captain, the Second Amendment Restoration Act would, among other things, eliminate funding for the expanded background checks on gun purchasers between the ages of 18 and 21 and repeal the portions of the law relating to data collection of gun owners and the federal grants offered to states to implement “red flag” laws. 

Hunt told the Dallas Morning News that the legislation has eight co-sponsors in the House, as well as the approval of the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, National Association of Gun Rights, and several state-level 2A groups in the Lone Star State. One Texas politician who won’t be signing on is Sen. John Cornyn, who was the architect of the BSCA and is being challenged in the 2026 GOP Senate primary by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton… and Rep. Wesley Hunt. 

Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth six-year term, has defended his work on the law by saying he fought to keep it focused on practical solutions to improve public safety while preserving the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners.

The law also included mental health and security funding that has flowed to schools in Texas.

Cornyn has cited support from law enforcement for various provisions in the bill, including its effort to crack down on individuals with clean records buying guns for people who are legally barred from doing so.

Such “straw purchases” are how criminal organizations like Mexican cartels access firearms.

The new law included the first standalone federal statute designed specifically to target illegal gun trafficking and straw purchases, the U.S. Justice Department said last year in announcing it had charged more than 500 defendants under the statute.

The resulting cases have included criminals attempting to traffic firearms into Mexico.

Critics see the new anti-straw purchasing provisions as a potential risk to lawful transactions and small retailers, saying law enforcement officials can go after criminal weapons trafficking operations without them.

Hunt’s bill would repeal the provisions.

Even if Hunt’s bill were to pass the House, I don’t think there are 60 votes in the Senate to undo BSCA at the moment. But the introduction of the Second Amendment Restoration Act once again puts a spotlight on Cornyn’s work that led to Congress passing the most significant gun control legislation in almost thirty years. Those efforts earned the senator a rebuke from the Texas GOP shortly after BSCA’s passage, and has been highlighted by both Paxton and Hunt in their primary campaign against the incumbent. 

Paxton has been narrowly leading Cornyn in polling in recent months, with the AG holding a 2-point advantage in RealClearPolling’s aggregate. Hunt, who just announced his own bid for the Senate seat last month, has been in third place in the polls taken since he announced his candidacy, trailing both Cornyn and Paxton by more than ten points. If nothing else, Hunt taking the fight to Cornyn on Second Amendment issues should improve his standing among Texas gun owners, and with the Senate primary coming up next March, Hunt needs to see some movement in his direction fairly soon. 

As the Texas Tribune reported when Hunt announced his candidacy, his supporters are pitching him as a conservative alternative to Cornyn who doesn’t have the baggage that Paxton carries, which includes allegations of corruption allegations that led to a failed effort to impeach him in the Texas legislature and Paxton’s wife filing for divorce and accusing him of adultery. Paxton has also tried to thwart a lawsuit challenging some of the state’s “gun-free zones” on technical grounds, even while admitting that the laws in question are likely unconstitutional. The AG, however, has also filed a suit of his own seeking to strike down several other “gun-free zones,” and is actively courting Second Amendment supporters in his primary campaign. 

While the Second Amendment Restoration Act’s timing is almost certainly tied to the primary calendar, the push to repeal or replace the gun control portions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will hopefully continue after Texas Republicans have chosen their candidate for Senate next March. And if Paxton or Hunt end up replacing Cornyn in the Senate, it should be at least a little easier to get that repeal approved by the upper chamber after the midterms are over and the Class of ’26 is sworn in.  

Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle—just inflicting pain for political points.

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