Pro-Gun Brandon Herrera Forces Tony Gonzales to Runoff

March 15, 2024 

Once the smoke cleared after the Republican primary in Texas’ 23rd Congressional District on March 5, 2024, incumbent Congressman Tony Gonzales (R-TX) and his challenger Brandon Herrera ended up as the top two finishers, picking up 45.4% and 24.2% of the vote respectively. Since neither obtained over 50% of the vote, Gonzales and Herrera are headed to a runoff on May 28, 2024.

This runoff is no random political development. It’s the result of Gonzales’s sketchy legislative track record on gun rights over the past two years of his congressional term. 

Since being elected to Congress in 2020 to represent Texas’ 23rd district, Gonzales has proven himself to be a loyal minion of the DC ruling class. The Uvalde shooting of May 24, 2022, was when Gonzales demonstrated his true colors on the right to bear arms. 

The shooting took place in Gonzales’s district, which naturally had a major impact on him. Instead of soberly processing the situation and focusing on the Uvalde Police Department’s cowardly decision to stand down and not deal with the mass murderer who slaughtered 21 people in a timely manner, Gonzales succumbed to the corporate media’s immediate push for gun control by playing an instrumental role in the passage of the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.”

This gun control package was championed by Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democrat Senator Chris Murphy in the United States Senate, and was ultimately passed with bipartisan support after weak-kneed Republicans like Gonzales got on board. 

Joe Biden described the BSCA as “the most significant gun [control] legislation to pass Congress in 30 years.”

This bill secured $750 million in federal funding for state “red flag” gun confiscation order programs that offer no due process protections. Essentially, an individual who is suspected of posing a threat to themselves or others could have their firearms confiscated without even a judicial hearing. Additionally, this bill allocated $300 million to facilitate the entry of millions of juvenile records into NICS and the reporting on them without any regard for due process. 

$200 million would also go towards the states to handle their new juvenile records reporting requirement, while $100 million would be allocated towards meeting the “additional resource needs” of the NICS system. Such a move represents a significant expansion of the NICS database, which many gun owners perceive as a step towards establishing a de facto gun registry. 

To make matters worse, the BSCA could potentially subject countless lawful gun dealers to criminal penalties. This law establishes new language for a “dealer”, thereby making numerous Federal Firearms License (FFL) holders criminally liable for “dealing without a license” for selling firearms that are later used in criminal acts. The definition of an FFL is broadened to encompass any individual who sells firearms to “predominantly earn a profit” as opposed to anyone who engages in such activity to make a living. In effect, many private gun sales could be subject to criminal penalties. 

These among other provisions make the BSCA a gun control abomination that no self-respecting conservative should ever support. Gonzales portrays himself as a staunch conservative, but in a moment of great political tension, he folded like a lawn chair. 

Thankfully grassroots conservatives in the Lone Star State did not ignore Gonzales’s Second Amendment treachery.

Gonzales’s challenger, Brandon Herrera, made his name as a firearms manufacturer and host of a YouTube channel that has over 3 million subscribers. 

Herrera felt compelled to throw his hat in the political ring because Gonzales had not lived up to his constituents’ pro-gun values during his time in office. Undoubtedly, Herrera is the candidate of the grassroots in this runoff election as he runs on a platform to fully restore the Second Amendment. 

Primaries continue serving a useful purpose as a way to expose the lackluster track record of establishment politicians and punish them for their misbehavior at the ballot box.  Primary elections are one of the democratic mechanisms that pro-gun activists can still use to keep the political class in line and even knock some of their minions if the right political stars align. These elections should not be overlooked. 

The undeniable reality of politics is that when politicians are allowed to legislate in an anti-liberty manner, they will only escalate their efforts to destroy our liberties. Only dedicated grassroots activists who are willing to inflict political pain on bad politicians will restore the sacred liberties that have been stripped from us over the past century. 

Brandon Herrera represents the will of Texas grassroots voters who have yearned for no compromise, pro-Second Amendment leadership. The pro-gun YouTuber upsetting Gonzales on March 28 will send a strong message to Texas’ political class that Second Amendment betrayals will no longer be tolerated. 

This is one race that pro-gun observers should observe with great interest.  

Call Tony Gonzales at (210) 806-9920. Tell him to reverse course and start standing up for the Second Amendment!

 

Exposing politicians through mail, digital ads and text messages isn’t cheap! Help fund Texas Gun Rights’ efforts to mobilize pro-gun Texans to defend the Second Amendment today:

 

 

 

New Billboard Alert!

October 13, 2023

The Presidential election may be more than a year away, but we are in the thick of election season in Texas.

We talk about it a lot at TXGR — establishment and RINO Republicans are just as much of a threat (if not more!) to our gun rights as the Democrats.

The gun-grabbing dems are at least honest about wanting to take your guns away! Many Republicans campaign as being “pro-gun”, but then go to Austin and vote in the exact opposite way.

One of the worst offenders of this is my State Representative, Glenn Rogers, who represents a mostly rural district west of Fort Worth.

I’m sure you’ll remember that during the 2023 legislative session, we raised the alarm about SB 728 — a bill that moves us closer to universal gun registration in Texas.

According to the House sponsor of SB 728, Rep. Jeff Leach, the bill is bringing “Texas into line with Federal Law” as instructed by Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Safter Communities Act (something Texas could’ve REFUSED to do as a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary State’.)

Sadly, SB 728 was passed by the Republican-majority Texas House, Republican-majority Texas Senate, and signed into law by the Republican Governor, and will now funnel millions of records of law-abiding Texans into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), banning them from possessing or purchasing firearms. 

But what does that mean, you ask?

This law bans adult residents of Texas with certain juvenile offenses from possessing firearms due to indiscretions as a youth.

Worse, the law FORCES state reporting to NICS on ALL future juvenile inpatient mental health cases. This also opens the records of individuals retroactively who received inpatient mental care after the age of 16, even in the overwhelming case where there is NO violent risk, and the mental health issue has been resolved.

Of course, if you recall from our previous communications, the NICS Gun Ban Registry is already a horribly flawed system with a 95% false positive rate on firearms purchase denials since 1998.

That means 95% of the firearms purchase denials were law-abiding individuals who were WRONGLY denied a purchase! Often because they have the same name, or a similar name, as a prohibited person.

Thanks to SB 728, this new law feeds right into Biden’s gun-grabbing plan. And Rep. Rogers was one of the despicable Republicans to vote for this bill.

But you can rest assured that Texas Gun Rights isn’t going to let your politicians get away with this — not without a fight!

In fact, we already placed a billboard to get the word out! And we’re preparing to follow it up with text messages and mailers, exposing his record to his pro-gun voters.

Predictably, Rogers has already gone to social media whining about the billboard, calling us liars because “other Republicans voted for it, too.” 

The truth is, Texas Gun Rights is not loyal to any politician or political party. We are loyal to our members — and our commitment to protect and defend the Second Amendment!

With your help, Texas Gun Rights will aim to expose the records of anti-gun politicians like Rogers all across the state before the next primary election.

But if we wish to go statewide, it is going to be a costly endeavor. In Rogers district alone, we expect to spend $10,000 over the next month.

Can you give $100, $50, or even $10 to help us reach more people, in more districts?

We have to hold spineless Republicans like Rep. Rogers accountable — especially when they refuse to admit they’ve done any wrong. And your donations can help!

Texas may not have gun laws like California, but it will only remain that way if we keep fighting to protect them. We dare not keep silent, or we will have only ourselves to blame when our freedoms are taken from us!