HOUSTON — The 2022 Texas State Republican Convention is underway in Houston. This is the first in-person event since 2018. It was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
The purpose of the convention is to get Texas Republicans together to figure out their legislative priorities and platform.
Even though the recent mass shooting in Uvalde is fresh in their minds, many say they’re committed to defending the Second Amendment. Rep. Bryan Slaton doesn’t see a need for stricter gun laws.
“The problem was people allowing this troubled person to get through the process,” said Rep. Slaton, who represents Texas House District 2. “You know, through high school, buying a gun, and then getting into the school, staying in the school. And, at any point, somebody doing their job could have helped prevent that.”
In Rep. Slaton’s words, the problem is not with the gun; it’s with the person. Because of that, he doesn’t support Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s attempt to pass bipartisan gun legislation.
“I think John Cornyn has been a huge disappointment in how he’s handled this,” Rep. Slaton said. “Instead of standing up for our values, he ran straight to the left with these red flag laws. If you like justice, and fairness, it’s hard to like red flag laws because a bitter ex-wife, an angry neighbor, somebody just looking to hurt somebody, could always turn them in, and you have no due process. You’re a legal gun owner, and somebody just accuses you of it, and then automatically you’re in trouble and they’ve taken your guns. I don’t think red flag laws are the best solution to the problem."
"What I’m seeing with these young kids that are the shooters, we’re seeing them on antidepressant medication. We also see them in fatherless homes," Slaton continues. "And we see just falling through the cracks like this young man. His family, it was a mess. The schools didn’t apparently do much with him with mental health, and it just kind of kept spiraling out of control. And so the red flag laws, that is the Democrats’ policy, and it’s just a shame that one of our senators chose to lead the charge with the Democrats.”
In a booth right next to the representative is Richard Welch. He’s the director of business development for the Oil & Gas Workers Association. If you join the Association for $6 a month, you can enter to win a free AR-15 gun.
“It’s patriotic,” Welch said. “Americans love guns and every American should have one. So if you don’t, come on by, get your entry in, and at the same time help us fight for American oil and gas jobs in our industry.”
The AR-15 is an incentive to bring in money, which will help the Association get legislation in front of lawmakers in January when the 88th legislative session begins. He feels the Biden administration has taken away certain rights to drill for oil.
“Unfortunately, it is a pay-to-play system. And it costs money, tens of thousands of dollars, to bring legislation in front of Congress as well as bring things up in the court system,” Welch said. “Our legislatures can get the government out of private citizens’ business and let us continue to do what we do best, which is drill and keep the economy going every day.”
Welch noted the vast impact the oil industry has on “almost everything in your daily life.”
“From the Pyrex, to the Tupperware containers, to your shoes, your clothes,” he said. “More than you realize, pretty much everything is related to the oil and gas industry. Even the pharmaceutical industry.”
Beverly Roberts represents another group pushing for legislation support at the convention. She’s been with Concerned Women for America for nearly three decades. This coming legislative session, she says her organization is primarily focused on two agendas. One of them is to ban transgender women from participating in women’s sports.
“Women have fought hard to get sports for themselves where they can compete on a level playing field. To have a man come in who is bigger, stronger, faster, larger heart, larger bones is patently unfair,” Roberts said. “We are also against gender modification, which is child abuse. You cannot poison and mutilate a child’s body in order to try to solve a mental issue.”
Roberts said she’d also like to “abolish” the U.S. Department of Education.
“We do not want the federal government telling us how to educate our children,” Roberts said. “We want it brought back to the states. We’re not really focused on that, but I personally would love to see the education agency abolished and [education standards] brought back to local control.”
Notably, Gov. Greg Abbott did not speak and did not have a booth at the convention. Instead, he held a reception at a nearby restaurant, The Rustic.
“It’s very strange,” Rep. Slaton said of Gov. Abbott’s absence. “I wish he was here. I mean, he’s wanting us to unify against Beto and the Democrats. And he’s not here. I don’t quite understand that leadership strategy.”
The representative believes most Texas Republicans would support Gov. Abbott over Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke.
“Beto has made it clear he wants to take away our guns. He backtracked from that a while back, but of course now that Uvalde [and] the tragic events there he’s all about using any of those things… those tragic events, for political posturing and not even addressing the issues and how it got there,” Rep. Slaton said. “It wasn’t the gun that ever chooses to harm someone. It’s people with a hard heart, evil heart, trying to hurt others.”
The convention continues through Saturday.