Republican Sen. John Cornyn was booed by constituents in his home state at the Texas GOP convention on Friday for his role in leading negotiations with Democrats on federal gun restriction legislation.
From the moment Cornyn, one of 11 Republican senators including Senate Minority Mitch McConnell who have agreed to surrender to Democrats’ demands to impede the sale and purchase of guns, set foot on the GOP stage in Houston, he was met with hostile boos and jeers denouncing his support for a “bipartisan” bill that will likely include sweeping and constitutionally questionable measures such as problematic red flag laws.
During his speech littered with heckling, Cornyn once again found it difficult to praise the legislation created by Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy and instead opted to list off all of the proposals that he worked to exclude from the legislation.
“Democrats pushed for an assault weapons ban, I said no,” Cornyn said. “They tried to get a new three-week mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases, I said no. Universal background checks, magazine bans, licensing requirements, the list goes on and on and on. And I said no, no, 1,000 times no.”
Cornyn’s claims that he “will not under any circumstances support new restrictions for law-abiding citizens” were promptly rejected by the hostile crowd in the Lone Star State who repeatedly chanted “no red flags” and “don’t take our guns.”
The Federalist tried to reach Cornyn by calling his D.C. office, but the voicemail box was full. His communications director did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Cornyn took fire earlier this week from the Republican Party of Texas’ Platform Committee which unanimously approved a resolution rebuking Cornyn and every other Republican who voiced support for “the Gang of 20 Gun Control bill.”
In the past, Cornyn has bragged about his A+ rating from the National Rifle Association but the Republican resolution stated that raising the gun purchasing age, instituting red flag laws, and mandating waiting periods “is a violation of the Second Amendment and our God given rights.”
After facing backlash from his party and his state, Cornyn recently signaled a hesitancy to sign the gun restriction legislation due to concerns over the “boyfriend loophole,” a provision that expands current law to ban boyfriends and girlfriends convicted of domestic violence from obtaining a gun, and a provision that could withhold funds from states that don’t pass red flag laws.
