Texas Democratic Party adopts 2012 platform with strong gun-hostile verbage

[gejohnston]

72. OK.

Good morning, Gary - I'm afraid I have bad news concerning the platform. On behalf of the Gun Owners Caucus, I submitted a platform plank for consideration at this weekend's TDP State Convention in Houston in which the TDP would explicitly recognize our right to keep and bear arms while also recognizing the need to keep guns out of the hands of convicted felons, the mentally ill, and those convicted of domestic violence. The majority of Platform Committee members, however, tossed this platform plank aside and inserted their own language into the platform, calling for Texas to "curtail" civilian access to "automatic weapons" and "extended magazines," calling for the use of "terror watch lists" to screen out potential gun buyers with no regard for due process, and modifying our state's Castle Doctrine law with a "duty to retreat" when threatened outside the home. I recall there is other offensive language in the platform, but those are the highlights that I recall.

I voted against adoption of the 2012 platform on the convention floor. I may have been the only delegate on the floor to do so, but I have no regrets. It breaks my heart that this platform, which otherwise shows much promise for human rights and dignity, may be used against our Texas Democratic candidates.

There will be another meeting of the Gun Owners Caucus at the 2014 TDP Convention in Dallas, and I am trying my best to mobilize Democratic gun owners in Texas to be ready for Dallas. We need to heal our party's platform. We need to assert our rights. We need to speak up.