Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn on Wednesday appeared to suggest that he does not remember spearheading an effort to help pass gun control legislation during former President Joe Biden’s term.
Cornyn wrote in a Wednesday X post that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging him in Texas’ 2026 Senate race, is “shooting with blanks” — referring to Paxton’s unsuccessful effort to have state House Democrats who had fled the state arrested. Texas Gun Rights, the largest gun rights organization in Texas, replied to Cornyn’s social media post, saying “Speaking of shooting, do you remember when you teamed up with Biden to spearhead gun control legislation?”
Cornyn replied to Texas Gun Rights’ X post simply by saying “no.”
In May 2022, then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell instructed Cornyn to work with Democrats to find a”bipartisan solution” on gun violence in response to the deadly Uvalde, Texas elementary school shooting that month, as CNN first reported. In June 2022, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which made “various changes to federal firearms laws, including to expand background check requirements, broaden the scope of existing restrictions and establish new criminal offenses.”
Cornyn was notably one of the legislation’s lead sponsors. He, along with 14 other Republican senators, voted “yea” on the bill, which Biden signed into law in June 2022. Thirty-three Republican senators voted against the bill.
The former president also thanked Cornyn during a speech at a July 2022 event commemorating the passage of the legislation.
“I am proud that after weeks of hard work, the Senate passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a bill I negotiated with my colleagues,” Cornyn wrote in a June 2022 X post. “Our bill will save lives while placing no new restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.”
Cornyn maintained in a separate X post on Wednesday that the bipartisan gun safety legislation places “no restrictions on law abiding Texans.” Paxton wrote in a statement posted to X on Thursday that it “looks like Joe Biden isn’t the only anti-gun establishment politician with memory issues,” in reference to Cornyn.
“Everyone else in Texas clearly remembers you doing this,” Paxton added.
The Senate Majority Leader John Thune-aligned Senate Leadership Fund is supporting Cornyn’s reelection bid. The Texas Republican has also notched an endorsement from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott.
An Emerson College Texas Senate GOP primary poll released Friday showed Cornyn with a one-point lead over Paxton. However, a series of polls from earlier in the year had shown Cornyn trailing behind his challenger by wide margins.
“Perhaps at 73, Cornyn is starting to share more than just policy blunders with Biden; that creeping forgetfulness might explain why he’s also in denial about those abysmal polls showing AG Paxton wiping the floor with him,” Texas Gun Rights president Chris McNutt told Breitbart News on Thursday. “Texas Gun Rights is happy to remind Cornyn — and all pro-gun Texans — of his blunders.”
A spokesperson for Cornyn’s campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment by time of publication.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
