Republicans and Bogeymen vs. Guns

Once again Republicans in our state legislature are more interested in wasting time on scary topics like trans-gender kids, forcing their religion on our children, and banning school library books than actually protecting those children from very real gun violence.

SB 14 which recently passed the Senate and has been sent to the House was introduced by Senator Donna Campbell, who is an emergency room physician, prohibits treatments for gender dysphoria. The American Psychiatric Association describes gender dysphoria as psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity. Though gender dysphoria often begins in childhood, some people may not experience it until after puberty or much later. Rather than helping our children learn to be happy in their own bodies the Republican controlled Senate has made treating them a crime. 

Last Friday the Senate passed Senator Phil King’s SB 1515 which would, if passed by the House and signed by Gov. Abbott, require that every public elementary school classroom post a 16”x20” poster of the King James version of the Ten Commandments. That’s not the version that Lutherans or Catholics use. So right off the bat Republicans in the Senate have acted in a discriminatory manner even if you foolishly assume that all public school students are some variant of Christian. Given that Texas has a very diverse population that includes, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikh’s, and other faiths as well as those of no faith, this is a case of the majority shoving their religion down the throats of everyone else.

A couple of weeks ago the Senate passed SB 13, authored by half a dozen Republicans, this bill would ban books based on vague characteristics involving sexual identity and behavior. A Texas judge recently ruled against similar book bans in public libraries on First Amendment grounds. It would also require school districts to create committees of local citizens with the power to further restrict the reading material on public school campuses. 

Several bills were filed related to gun safety, and gun sales and in every instance those bills were filed by Democrats. SB 360 by Sarah Eckhardt and SB 1736 by Roland Gutierrez, along with several similar bills in the House all languish in committee without even a hearing. 

Every day in Texas nearly 4 people are murdered and nearly 6 people are injured by someone using a gun. Every day 1 Texas child dies by gun violence. Texas Republicans like to say they don’t want to be California but people are a lot safer there since we’ve got a 65% higher rate of gun violence. It’s not just Texas, all 12 states with the highest rates of gun violence are controlled by Republicans. 

Republicans in our legislature continue to promote solutions to make believe issues in order to distract from the fact that they are unwilling to actually address real problems. Conservatives are easily motivated by fear, that’s why Republicans need a bogeyman. Trans-gender kids are the current one but there have been and will be others. As long as Texas continues to have a dismal voter turnout we will continue to be governed by opportunists using fear to drive their voters.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - April 26, 2023