Chad’s Morning Brief: Ted Cruz vs. Jeb Bush on Immigration, Liberals Continue to Show Ignorance With Open Carry, and Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of April 8, 2014. Give me your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11am. Remember, you can listen online at KFYO.com or on your iPhone/Android with the radioPup App.
Cruz vs. Bush
Senator Ted Cruz was on CNN Monday and according to POLITICO, did not agree with comments made Sunday by Jeb Bush about illegal immigrants.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says illegal immigrants endure “heartbreaking” conditions, but wouldn’t agree with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush that they aren’t committing a felony.
“We’re a nation of immigrants, we need to celebrate that, but at the same time, rule of law matters,” Cruz said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead.”
The Republican senator, whose name has been included in 2016 speculation, added that the border needs to be secured to deal with the “humanity” of the situation.
“If you come down to Texas, and you see the conditions where you see photographs that are heartbreaking of bodies, of women and children left abandoned in the desert,” Cruz said. “Because they entrust themselves to transnational global criminal cartels who smuggle them in, who assault them, who leave them to die. This is not a humane system and we need to solve the problem.”
Cruz said in addition to securing the border, legal immigration needs to be improved and streamlined.
However, Cruz would not go as far as Bush, who said in an interview with Fox News that aired Sunday that illegal immigration is not a felony.
“Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony,” Bush said. “It’s an act of love, It’s an act of commitment to your family.”
Cruz acknowledged that immigrants come to the U.S. “seeking a better world,” but added that some are “breaking the law to do so.”
Cruz, who said he was a “big fan” of Bush’s, dodged when asked whether the former Floria governor — also seen as a possible 2016 contender — is a strong conservative.
“That’s a question for the voters to say,” Cruz said,
Cruz, who said he likes both Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also said the GOP establishment wants to pick a nominee for 2016, “who they think won’t rock the boat.”
“I don’t think Washington elites are going to be very effective picking the nominee. It’s going to be, quite rightly, a decision for the grassroots to make,” Cruz said.
Thoughts?
Debate Over Open Carry
Open Carry will be an issue in the upcoming legislative session. On Monday, anti-Open Carry activists aired their opinions according to the Texas Tribune.
Less than a week after a Fort Hood shooting that left four dead, advocates for and against gun control clashed Monday at a hearing before state lawmakers as they discussed proposals that would allow Texans to openly carry handguns.
The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security invited testimony about gun laws from groups including the National Rifle Association, Open Carry Texas and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, as well as from the public. Current state law allows concealed carry of handguns, such as a firearm hidden in a holster, with a concealed carry permit, and open carry of long arms is legal without a permit. Open carry of a handgun in public, however, is illegal. That might change in the next legislative session, as both gubernatorial candidates Sen. Wendy Davis and Attorney General Greg Abbott support allowing Texans with licenses to visibly sport their weapons.
“For young people, this year will be the first year where gun violence is more deadly than auto accidents,” Jamie Addams, a spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a national organization for gun reform, told lawmakers. “From our perspective, because there’re no [universal] background checks in place, it’s impossible to know a good guy with a gun from a bad guy with a gun.”
The law allowing Texans to carry concealed handguns in public passed about 20 years ago. However, it remains technically legal to carry a rifle or shotgun in plain view.
“We aren’t plowing any new ground here,” said lobbyist Tara Reilly-Mica of the National Rifle Association. “We’re talking about changing a method of carrying, not any of the qualifications or requirements we go into with [acquiring] a license.”
The fact that Texans can already carry long guns openly concerns Stephanie Lundy, a member of Moms Demand Action.
“It’s important that people understand in Texas, there are no regulations of any kind in carrying a long gun in public,” she said. “Anyone with any background, without training, can carry loaded, high capacity weapons in restaurants, stores, wherever.”
While it is legal, the police often frown on someone walking down the street with a rifle thrown over their shoulder, said C.J. Grisham, the president of Open Carry Texas. He told lawmakers he was arrested last year when he took a hunting rifle on a hike with his son in Temple.
"I wasn’t pointing it at anywhere or threatening anyone, yet I was arrested because I refused to voluntarily surrender my firearm when I wasn’t breaking any laws," Grisham said.
Those who attended the eight-hour hearing, which also covered border security and crime statistics, were largely in support of open carry proposals.
When state Sen. Jose Rodriguez, D-El Paso, reminded the audience that everyone in the room supported the Second Amendment, he was met with audible sneers.
“I would be worried if I saw someone with a gun walking around H.E.B. or Starbucks,” said state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, who was detained by McAllen airport authorities in 2005 for carrying a gun, which he said he had forgotten about, in his briefcase. Openly carrying a gun in a grocery store or coffee shop, he said, would be a combination of “bad taste and bad manners.”
Those who opposed open carry were outnumbered by gun rights activists at the meeting. Gun rights supporters said that Texas is one of only six states that bans open carry of handguns, and that states that allow open carry have not reported higher crime rates.
But members of Moms Demand Action said there have been 44 school shootings since the Newtown, Conn., mass shooting in 2012 at an elementary school. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an advocacy organization that supports gun control, reports an even higher number — 60 school shootings in the past 15 months.
Since November 2012, Texas lawmakers have adopted a policy that allows college students to carry guns in their cars and have reduced the training hours needed for concealed handgun licenses.
Groups against Open Carry continue to ignore facts and instead let emotion get in the way. Texans should have the choice whether they want to carry their firearm concealed or openly. I hope to see more lawmakers jump on board with Greg Abbott and other Republican lawmakers who understand that Texans should have this right.
Other Top Stories:
These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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