In rural East Texas, Alec Johnson- activist and Democrat running for Texas House of Representatives District 11 (Nacogdoches)- took a moment to saw his AR-15 assault-style rifle into three pieces to show his support for the nationwide March for Our Lives.
Each of the school shootings our Nation has witnessed since Columbine has been one school shooting too many. Throughout my school years, I never thought for a moment that my life might be at risk from an armed intruder. Clearly that is not the experience of any students going to school today. This reality cannot be denied, nor can it be passively accepted any longer.
The Parkland survivors and Black Lives Matter movement have inspired our nation, raised awareness, and have gained the high moral ground from which they are effectively challenging political leaders to do their job. I’m a parent and like most parents in our country, I understand that protecting our children is our paramount responsibility. As someone running for elective office, I confirm my integrity by standing for issues that I’m prepared to lose an election over. Ending gun violence is one such issue for me.
Today I put my principles into action. I do not believe we have a need or a Constitutional right to possess firearms designed for military combat purposes. As I would never imagine the need or assume a right to purchase a hand grenade, landmine, machine gun, bazooka, or a tank, I now believe I have no need nor a right to an Assault Rifle (AR). I purchased one a few years back, largely out of curiosity, and have fired it at targets a few times.
Today I’ve decided to remove it from the pool of firearms in this country by destroying and disposing of it.To be clear, I am not calling for confiscating anyone’s guns. I hope to lead by example and I do encourage others to put their AR firearms beyond use. I do favor a ban on future sales of assault rifles. I also support these four measures:
1. Require permits to purchase a gun.
2. Ban anyone convicted of a violent crime from purchasing a gun.
3. Make all serious domestic violence offenders surrender firearms.
4. Temporarily ban active alcohol abusers from firearms.
These proposals were developed by Garen Wintemute and Daniel Webster and were reported by Melinda Wenner Moyer in the 10-Nov-2017 issue of Scientific American online. These measures have been proven to reduce gun violence and have been enacted in some states.
Link to the proposal: https://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
Alec Johnson
Democratic Candidate
Texas House of Representatives, District 11
www.AlecJohnsonForTexas.com
Alec is a member of House Team Purple Part 2, which offers tandem fundraising to seven rural Texas Democrats running for State House in 2018.
House Team Purple
House Team Purple Part 2