John Cornyn is about to shoot himself and, potentially, the GOP in the foot with his ham-handed approach to the bi-partisan gun talks currently in play.  Axios is reporting the in-fighting going on behind closed doors with legitimate concerns being expressed by other Senate leaders.  I have the exact same concerns as Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) if this article is accurately written.  Big IF, I know.  But for now, let’s take it on face value.

Before we get into my commentary, let me first admit that I am not a huge fan of John Cornyn these days.  Moving back to Texas, I had to learn the political playing field and I made some wildly inaccurate assumptions about both my Senators.  I bought into the negative media hype of Ted Cruz and blindly supported John Cornyn as an establishment Republican.  Man, have I come a long way!  Secretly (ok, not so secretly) I have a girl-crush on Ted and would love nothing more than to see Cornyn primaried.  Pipe dreams.

Axios had a late-night scoop about the bipartisan gun talks underway between Chuck Schumer (D – New York) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

“Frustration inside the Senate GOP conference is boiling among conservatives at the way Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is handling the bipartisan gun reform negotiations — putting the man who aspires to succeed Mitch McConnell as Republican leader in a political jam.”

John Cornyn Isn’t My Top Pick to Lead This Fight:

First off, I cannot imagine a worse Senate leader than John Cornyn.  He just doesn’t have the balls or the political savvy to herd cats.  He’s a go along to get along establishment Republican and there is no room in the GOP for that brand of conservative right now.  My gut instinct is that Cornyn has seen the hoover-like financial opportunities that Mitch McConnel has seen over the last many years and wants a piece of that action.  No thank you.  There is a new brand of cowboy in the conservative party and Cornyn doesn’t know how to wear that hat.

Many of his constituents, me included, seem inclined to think like Twitter user, RicinBeans:

No way… republican “tough guy” @JohnCornyn storms out of negotiations like the lily-livered yellow-bellied sap-sucking dog-faced buckle-backed clown-stroking coward he is. https://t.co/B9JNiznaS7

— RicinBeans (@BabyHeadz) June 16, 2022

Cornyn Could Give Dems A Winning Message:

Secondly, if Cornyn doesn’t get this right, he’s going to make the Republicans look bad and make the Democrats look good.  This close to election day, Cornyn doesn’t have the political capital to get the other GOP Senators to risk voting on a ill-thought through gun bill.  Frankly, most don’t need to jeopardize their elections over this.  It’s not that there aren’t compromises to be made on a good gun bill, but it must be a GOOD gun bill for 8+ GOP Senators to buy in.  I say eight, because we can’t be naive enough to believe that Susan Collins and Mitt Romney won’t rubber-stamp anything if it will make themselves look good.  Even if it makes zero sense politically.  Idiots.

Watch Ted Cruz spell out why good legislation on many things is better than a rushed gun bill that accomplishes NONE, none of what all Americans want to get accomplished:

Can Cornyn Communicate to the GOP Senate Effectively?

Right off the bat, Cornyn is losing support from the other members because he is not communicating with them.  Sign number 347 that he is ill-suited to a true leadership role.

“Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) ‘very vocally’ requested more information from Cornyn on the substance of the framework. Those requests were rebuffed, three sources familiar with the lunch told Axios.”

Josh Hawley is having the same frustrations:

“I’m at a disadvantage because I’m not part of the negotiations,” [snip] “I don’t know where they are. All I know is what I read secondhand from you all.”

I Don’t Want to Pass A Bill To See What’s In the Bill:

One of the many, many things we conservatives hated the most about Obamacare was the lack of transparency of the bill before it was put to the floor.  When it comes to something as important as 2A legislation, we cannot, for one nanosecond, push forward a bill for expediencies sake.  There is just too much at risk.

As a relatively new 2A advocate, I need to know that any bill we create does what we want for the country.  No, I’m not talking about caving to the liberal agenda – but I know of no conservative who wouldn’t like to see less slaughter on our streets.  Especially within the urban centers of democrat-lead cities.  Sen. John Kennedy (R-La) asked the same question of Cornyn and had the exact same reaction:

“Are we focusing on gang violence and inner-city murders? And the response was, ‘No, we’re not focusing on that’ … And more than a few of us wondered why the hell not?”

The Ghost of Gun Bills Past:

Look, I didn’t know all the details of the 1994 Crime Bill and subsequent gun restrictions thereafter until recently.  What I learned has been eye opening and mind-numbing to say the least.

1. Our FOTUS (Ficus of the United States), Joe Biden, was the first to coin the term “assault weapon” back in 1994. No one has been able to define that term.
2. In selecting which guns were “good” and which guns were bad, they gave Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Cal) a line-up of gun pics and made her choose. Whatever looked “scary” was targeted.    Don’t believe me?  Read this Reason article from 2018.
3. There are over 20 million registered AR-15s in the U.S. Less than 212 long guns have been used in “mass shootings”. Even fewer of them used AR-15s specifically.
4. Seven times as many people have been killed with hands and feet (yes, HANDS and FEET!) than with “assault rifles”.

Get It Right.  Not Get It Now:

Deanna Fisher has it right, in her piece on Monday.  Democrats want a legislative WIN, any WIN between now and November.  Uvalde opened the door to the discussion on gun legislation that they have long desired to push forward.  In their desperate attempt to DO SOMETHING, weak-kneed Republicans like Cornyn might give them that win at the expense of actually pulling together a bill that not only could get the support of more than eight Senators but could potentially do some real good in our communities.

But for Cornyn to do that, he must address and show the following:

** Red Flag laws must be tightly written, or they will undoubtedly be abused.  It’s a very risky inclusion.

** The “boyfriend loophole” must also be carefully worded.  It cannot be subject to petty fights between bedmates, but it must account for more casual relationships that have existed for the last several decades.  Where does the line get drawn?  Three dates? Shared housing relationships?  Three years’ worth of intimacy?  These lines are critical to address.

** Expanding the opportunity to review sealed juvenile records rather than raising the minimum age to purchase a gun has many more advantages in combatting urban violence.

Measure Twice, Cut Once:

If Cornyn rushes this bill to the floor to get it to a vote before the Senate’s July 4 recess, he is going to run roughshod over Senators who will see zero advantage to vote for a sloppy bill.  Giving the democrats even one advantage on messaging before November is reckless and unnecessary.  Good legislation should be like cutting lumber.  Measure twice, cut once.

While I was writing this piece, it seems Cornyn might have gotten the message:

Senator John Cornyn, the lead Republican negotiator in U.S. Senate efforts to craft a bipartisan gun safety bill walked out of the talks on Thursday https://t.co/FmbFWnze4x pic.twitter.com/3U32OKwN33

— Reuters (@Reuters) June 17, 2022

Crossing fingers that the right bill, if any, is crafted.  No matter how long it takes.  Pipe dreams.

Featured Image: Ingrid’s (First) AR-15 from Creative Commons, modified