Incumbent GOP Senator In Brutal Primary Battle In Hot Water Over Gun Control Stance

Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn on Wednesday appeared to suggest that he does not remember spearheading an effort to help pass gun control legislation during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Cornyn wrote in a Wednesday X post that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging him in Texas’ 2026 Senate race, is “shooting with blanks” — referring to Paxton’s unsuccessful effort to have state House Democrats who had fled the state arrested. Texas Gun Rights, the largest gun rights organization in Texas, replied to Cornyn’s social media post, saying “Speaking of shooting, do you remember when you teamed up with Biden to spearhead gun control legislation?”

Cornyn replied to Texas Gun Rights’ X post simply by saying “no.”

No https://t.co/gVmFdBmBP6

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 13, 2025

In May 2022, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell instructed Cornyn to work with Democrats to find a “bipartisan solution” on gun violence in response to the deadly Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting that month, as CNN first reported. In June 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which made “various changes to federal firearms laws, including to expand background check requirements, broaden the scope of existing restrictions and establish new criminal offenses.” (RELATED: Cornyn, Paxton Statistically Tied In Texas Primary Dogfight: POLL)

Cornyn was notably one of the legislation’s lead sponsors. He, along with 14 other Republican senators, voted “yea” on the bill, which Biden signed into law in June 2022. Thirty-three Republican senators voted against the bill.

The former president also thanked Cornyn during a speech at a July 2022 event commemorating the passage of the legislation.

“I am proud that after weeks of hard work, the Senate passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill I negotiated with my colleagues,” Cornyn wrote in a June 2022 X post. “Our bill will save lives while placing no new restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.”

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 11: Fred Guttenberg (L), whose daughter Jamie was killed in the Majory Stoneman Douglass High school shooting, talks to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) during an event to celebrate the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act on the South Lawn of the White House on July 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Joe Biden delivered remarks at the event calling the new law “the most significant gun violence reduction legislation in the last 30 years,” the White House invited lawmakers, gun violence victims and other supporters to the White House to commemorate its passage. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Cornyn maintained in a separate X post on Wednesday that the bipartisan gun safety legislation places “no restrictions on law abiding Texans.” Paxton wrote in a statement posted to X on Thursday that it “looks like Joe Biden isn’t the only anti-gun establishment politician with memory issues,” in reference to Cornyn.

“Everyone else in Texas clearly remembers you doing this,” Paxton added.

Looks like Joe Biden isn’t the only anti-gun establishment politician with memory issues.

Everyone else in Texas clearly remembers you doing this, @JohnCornyn. pic.twitter.com/W40D4BzgZY

— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) August 14, 2025

The Senate Majority Leader John Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund is supporting Cornyn’s reelection bid. The Texas Republican has also notched an endorsement from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott.

An Emerson College Texas Senate GOP primary poll released Friday showed Cornyn with a one-point lead over Paxton. However, a series of polls from earlier in the year had shown Cornyn trailing behind his challenger by wide margins.

“Perhaps at 73, Cornyn is starting to share more than just policy blunders with Biden; that creeping forgetfulness might explain why he’s also in denial about those abysmal polls showing AG Paxton wiping the floor with him,” Texas Gun Rights president Chris McNutt told Breitbart News on Thursday. “Texas Gun Rights is happy to remind Cornyn — and all pro-gun Texans — of his blunders.”

A spokesperson for Cornyn’s campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment by time of publication.

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