Gun rights groups denounce drive in Texas for tougher restrictions

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas’ muscular gun rights lobby has swiftly protested after Gov. Greg Abbott raised the possibility of tighter firearms laws in response to a gunman killing 22 people at an El Paso Walmart.

The resistance could test the relationship between gun rights groups, Abbott and the state’s Republican leadership, which eased gun restrictions after previous mass shootings in 2017 and 2018.

Before Abbott could even convene a closed-door meeting last week at the Capitol with lawmakers and law enforcement in response to the El Paso shooting, gun rights advocates rallied outside. Several demonstrators openly carried assault-style rifles and demanded Texas not infringe on their liberty.

After the meeting, the governor raised alarms about the inability to track private gun sales, which are largely unregulated and don’t require a background check. Hours later, the Texas State Rifle Association emailed its members with a response to calls for new gun restrictions.

“NO, NO and NO,” wrote Alice Tripp, the NRA-affiliated group’s legislative director and lobbyist, a powerful figure around Texas politics for the last two decades. “This country, this state, has mountains of existing gun law being ignored or under prosecuted.”

Tripp said it was Democratic lawmakers from El Paso in the meeting who pushed for more gun laws. But it was Abbott who publicly questioned private gun sales and cited a “danger” in who might be buying and selling in that weapons market.

“Right now there is nothing in law that would prevent one stranger from selling a gun to a terrorist,” Abbott said, “and obviously that’s a danger that needs to be looked into.”

State Sen. Jose Rodriguez, an El Paso Democrat, said the governor is pushing for ideas on guns laws.

Abbott was...