NRA-Lovin' Texas Lawmaker Awful Worried Syrian Refugees Could Buy Guns

There's no telling how many pink-haired anime Syrians are already in the country!

Here's a pleasant sidelight to the ongoing National Freakout Over Refugees. A Texas Republican state representative has thought of one more reason to keep Syrian refugees out of the Lone Star state: It's bad enough that they'll be able to get driver's licenses, but ... but ... what if they buy guns? Goodness, that is a scary thought!

After Gov. Greg Abbott issued his defiant announcement that Texas would not accept any Syrian refugees -- a power governors do not have -- state Rep. Tony Dale wrote his very own letter to Sen. John Cornyn to express his sincere concerns about the supposed dangers of allowing Syrian refugees into the state. Needless to say, Dale is not at all confident that the two-year security screening process for all refugees is adequate, because Middle Easterners are scary. Dale notes that, oh heavens, 123 Syrians have already been relocated to Texas, which is obviously more Syrians than the state (population 26.5 million) can possibly bear, and now Obama wants to bring in another 10,000 into the United States the next year, many of whom -- maybe hundreds! -- might be settled in Texas.

Dale is especially worried about the fact that once refugees have been cleared for entry, they qualify for all sorts of goodies, just like any other resident alien, such as driver's licenses, which will "make them eligible to gain employment enter federal facilities and board commercial aircraft." (They may even feel entitled to use the Oxford Comma, which patriotic Texans apparently eschew.)

More terrifying than driving and employment and air travel, though, is this:

While the Paris attackers used suicide vests and grenades it is clear that firearms also killed a large number of innocent victims. Can you imagine a scenario were [sic] a refugees is admitted to the United States, is provided federal cash payments and other assistance, obtains a drivers license and purchases a weapon and executes an attack?

[contextly_sidebar id="5iLQ2P2kCAsgqOS8LVyhqCTR86BZ8iBi"]Dag, man, that IS a scary prospect! You mean to say that if people can easily purchase guns, they might go on a shooting rampage? This new revelation is truly worrisome!

Thankfully, the NRA -- always watching out for the rights of gun owners -- helped kill a 2013 Democratic effort in the House of Representatives to deny gun sales to anyone who was on Homeland Security's terrorist watch list. Back in 2011, an al Qaeda video urged any interested homegrown terrorists in the USA to exploit the loophole that allows purchases of weapons at gun shows, with no pesky background checks. We hope they sent a nice thank-you note to the NRA for protecting that sacred right.

[contextly_sidebar id="13oogB4JtvCNlj9H93TAD3bSwbRGv8xz"]In case you hadn't guessed by now, Rep. Dale voted yes on the recent package of bills to expand open carryin Texas, as well as to allow concealed carry on college campuses. Mr. Dale's own campaign website boasts of his "A" rating from the NRA. 

Golly. Maybe Rep. Dale can take some comfort from this 2013 poll , in which 43 percent of respondents said they or a family member owned at least one gun, so there should be at least 11 million armed Texans to keep the state safe from the few hundred Syrians who settle there. Even better, Rep. Dale can remind himself that every single one of the Syrian refugees he's so worried about will have gone through far more extensive background checks than any of his 100 percent American constituents. Doesn't he know the only way to stop a bad refugee with a gun is a good refugee with a gun?

Besides, in 2011, Texas had 699 homicides involving firearms. You'd think they'd be used to the occasional mass shooting by now.

[ Fox 7 Austin / Tony Dale letter to John Cornyn / NPR / Texas Tribune ]