In an interview with the Texas Tribune, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson states "we don't have a gun problem, we have a nut job problem." The interview was posted yesterday on the paper’s website.
Commissioner Jerry Patterson was instrumental in the passage of Texas’ concealed handgun license law which was passed in 1995 in light of the massacre of 23 people in a Luby’s restaurant in Killeen, Texas in 1991.
In his discussion with the newspaper, the Commissioner states, “ we now know that those doomsday predictions of blood in the streets, Wild Wild West shootouts at every four way stop when we passed the concealed handgun law did not occur."
The Commissioner expounds, “I would submit that the First Amendment kills as many as the Second [Amendment]” and gives the example of the media coverage that ensues after a mass shooting. He clarifies, “when we have one of these miscreants, these deranged shooters, its 24/7, 365 of broadcast media coverage. Then you will see that several will follow."
The Commissioner continues to state, "we need to start trying to figure out how we can identify the nut jobs." No proposals are given to assist in the identification of those who commit gun violence.
Commissioner Jerry Patterson continues to clear up some of the misconceptions frequent in the media. He states that the current call for an assault weapon ban is really “based upon cosmetics [of the gun] versus functionality.”
He closes with “I think liberty has a price."
Commissioner Jerry Patterson was elected to a third term as Texas Land Commissioner in 2010 after a career in the Texas Legislature and a long military career in the U.S. Marines. He has been called “the public official most closely associated with gun legislation and advocacy for the Second Amendment” by Evan Smith, reporter for the Texas Tribune who facilitated the interview.
Commissioner Patterson recently announced his bid for the Lieutenant Governor’s race in 2014.
See the entire interview here.
©Amanda Amaya, All Rights Reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced without prior permissions from the author. Partial reposting is permitted with a link back to the original article.
Comments