Texas Governor Greg Abbott is
set to sign new legislation that
the legislators in the state have
agreed to.
And it would allow for gun carriers
to carry handguns without a permit.
This comes during the same weekend,
by the way, where gun violence has
exploded in the country.
CNN reported that there were as
many as 12 mass shootings over this
past weekend alone.
We'll get to those
details in just a moment.
But before I do so, let me go ahead
and tell you more about House Bill
1927, which would eliminate the
requirement for Texas residents to
obtain a license to carry handguns,
if they're not barred by state or
federal law from possessing a gun.
Now to some that might seem like
it's not unreasonable, except
there are all sorts of loopholes to
the federal background check which
we've covered in great detail.
The federal background check does
not apply to the sale of guns by
private sellers.
There's the gun show loophole where
someone who might have a criminal
record, or
someone who has no business buying
a gun, is easily able to buy
as many guns as he or she wants.
You guys get the picture.
So with all of these flaws in our
gun laws already, loosening up
whatever existing laws there are in
Texas doesn't seem to make a lot of
sense, but I'll give you more.
So, before approving the bill,
the Senate did tack on several
amendments to address concerns by
law enforcement.
Because there are certain law
enforcement departments who are
concerned about loosened gun laws.
It could affect
them negatively, right?
So what were those amendments?
The final version of the bill keeps
intact a number of changes that
the Senate made to the House bill
to assuage concerns from law
enforcement community,
including striking a provision that
would have barred cops from
questioning someone based on their
possession of a handgun.
I mean, cops are going to want to
harass certain people if they
have a handgun, right?
>> Of course.
So let's keep it real here, right?
And so some right wingers might say
it's too cynical.
I don't really care what they say.
So [INAUDIBLE]- >> No,
it's pretty accurate.
>> Yeah. >> Considering how cops
react to a black individual
with a gun,
oftentimes with a licensed gun, as
was the case with Philando Castile.
And the way they react to a white
person like Kyle Rittenhouse,
who literally had an illegal gun.
>> Yeah, so the changes that they
made to the law that held it up for
a hot minute,
was online safety course.
Who cares?
It's not at all controversial.
Increasing the penalty for
felons having a weapon.
Okay, that's not going to be that
controversial in Texas, right?
People are going to generally
agree to that.
But the one that they cared
the most about was that cops must
be able to question
the person with the gun.
And our sense of it is that
they probably got together and
were like,
guys do you think we're going to
question white people with guns?
Of course not, those are good,
abiding American, citizens, right?
But imagine if there's a black guy
with a gun and
we can't ask him why he has it.
Hair on fire, they're like okay, we
gotta change the bill, we got it.
But now in Texas, we don't know,
right?
But I'm telling you, my guess is
having seen this many times, that
they probably had a conversation.
Now imagine someone who looks
Mexican, and
he's carrying around weapons.
What, the cops aren't allowed to
ask him on why he has the weapons?
They're like change it right away.
Cops can ask, cops can ask.
And you know how they're going to
selectively enforce, we've seen it
a million times all across America.
They're not going to ask the white
guy with an AR-15 walking around
Walmart.
We literally showed you
the pictures.
They walk around without a care in
the world.
And what did they do to
John Crawford in Ohio when he had
a BB gun that he was
going to buy from Walmart?
That he picked up at the store.
They shot him in two seconds flat
and killed him.
So, look, I hope they ask in Texas
when it comes to a black person or
a Latino person,
because most of the time, the way
that it actually works is what Ana
told you about Philando Castile.
White guy has a gun, points it at
officers, the Bundy guys, said
threatens to kill the officers.
We have a party with them and
we eat crumpets.
In January 6th,
they raid the Capitol and
they viciously attack police.
Nobody gets shot, except one person
finally got shot when they were
finally crossing the place where
they could actually get to and
murder the legislators, right?
But before that the cops are just
viciously assaulted and
nobody gets touched.
But Tamir Rice,
12-year-old black boy.
I can go on, I can give you dozens
and dozens and dozens of cases
where it was a toy gun,
a BB gun, no gun at all.
It was a phone, etc.
They didn't ask, they just shot and
killed a black guy.
So that's the reality of America.
And in Texas, I guarantee you they
don't ask white people in general,
but they will ask almost every
Black and Latino person,
why do you have that gun?
>> I mean, this particular piece of
legislation in the state of Texas
is so gratuitous.
It's so unnecessary considering
how easy it is for Texans
to access guns, to purchase guns.
This is just needlessly
provocative, gratuitous,
you get my point.
And when you look at what's
happened over the weekend, I mean,
are we ever going to get to a sane
place in this country in regard to
gun violence?
In regard to closing the loopholes
when it comes to federal
background check,
just common sense gun legislation.
And by the way, I say this as
someone who believe it or not,
despite covering these types of
stories for years now, I've warmed
up to gun rights, right?
But not to the point where
I want to get rid of all laws and
regulations and
just let guns run amuck.
No, I think that people who are law
abiding citizens,
who have proven themselves to be
responsible human beings, should
have the ability to access a gun.
For hunting, for going to the gun
range, for whatever they think that
they need the gun for.
But we don't have that system in
place right now.
And it's far too easy for
bad guys to get guns, not because
we have too many gun laws, but
because we have insanely weak and
lax gun laws.
And it bears it out in the numbers
of mass shootings and gun violence,
which over this past weekend,
really did explode.
There were at least 12 mass
shootings between Friday night and
Sunday, according to an analysis of
data from the Gun Violence Archive.
The shootings took place across
eight states, Illinois, New Jersey,
Ohio, Indiana, South Carolina,
Virginia, Texas, and Minnesota.
So far this year, more than 7,500
people have died from gun violence
across the United States.
Guys, we're not even done
with May yet.
And that's according to the same
source, Gun Violence Archive.
There's also been a 23% uptick in
deaths from gun violence this year.
>> So mass shooting is when four
people are shot, either wounded or
killed.
So 12 of them including 1 in Texas
obviously, 80 people are injured,
11 killed, right, overall.
And it's not even news.
Is it major news?
Did you hear about the 12 massacres
that happened in America this
weekend?
You didn't hear about it because
it's normal now.
If we had no massacres
this weekend,
that would be breaking news.
My God, we went a whole weekend in
America without a mass shooting,
a shocking, shocking development.
And in Texas where they had some
of the worst mass shootings in
American history, they're now
saying we have too many gun laws.
We should let everybody run
amuck, okay?
Who cares if you're licensed,
not licensed?
You need get a car,
you need a license.
You're going to vote, we need tons
and tons of voter ID and make sure
that you're doing it right.
You're going to take a gun that
could kill anybody at any moment?
Yeah, who cares,
do anything you want.
Yeah, so look,
their hypocrisy is super obvious.
They don't care about
the massacres.
They've done nothing about
the massacres.
You're voting for
Republicans, honestly,
you're voting for massacres.
And I don't share Ana's opinion.
I'm not warmed up to any goddamn
gun rights, okay?
That doesn't mean I'm in favor of
taking away everybody's guns, but
I think we need to get
a thousand times stricter,
because this country is nuts.
No other country has massacres like
us non-stop, it's total insanity.
So I would make gun laws way
more restrictive than they are now.
If you want to cry about that,
I got a hobby man, and my hobby
murders people every weekend.
So what, 7,500 people died because
of my hobby.
You got a hobby, fantasy football,
waste a little time.
My hobby murders people.
Well, what are we going to do.
You don't take my freedom away.
Well, I don't agree.