According to Lauren McGaughy at the Dallas Morning News, the NRA is celebrating a banner year in Texas.
Tara Mica, the regional lobbyist for the NRA, called this year “highly successful.”
“When you get 10 pro-Second Amendment bills to the governor and he signs them all, I would rank it up there with one of the most successful sessions we’ve had since I’ve been doing this,” Mica said Monday.
Republicans in the Lone Star state are very fond of their guns. That is at least partially related to the fact that the NRA spends more money in Texas than any other state.
But as we saw with the recent slate of retirements from GOP congressmen, there is a palpable fear that their total control of the state might be in jeopardy. One of those who announced that he wouldn’t run for re-election in 2020 is Kenny Marchant, who has been representing the 24th district in congress since 2005. Seven Democrats have entered the primary for that open seat, and one of them is Kim Olson. At a recent candidate forum, she gave a master class in how to stand up to the NRA—right in the heart of their favorite state.
“Where do you stand on gun control?” #TX24 #Forum #KimForCongress pic.twitter.com/Z75X9biVLs
— Colonel Kim Olson (@KimOlsonTx) August 25, 2019
It’s clear that Olson is pretty passionate about gun control. When she says that “weapons of war do not belong on the streets of America,” she speaks with some authority on the subject. As a reminder, here is her introductory video.
One of the reasons I find Olson to be so impressive is that she reminds me of women from Texas that I have admired—like Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, and Molly Ivins. While they didn’t serve in the military, they were warriors too. No one would have ever accused Jordan, Richards, or Ivins of mincing words. Whether you agreed with them or not, they stood their ground unapologetically.
It’s still too early to handicap the primary in this district. But one thing is for certain, Kim Olson is exactly the kind of Democrat that should scare Republicans—and the NRA.
