They crossed the line, however, when they went to the office of state rep. Poncho Nevarez and refused to leave and threatened the representative.
The following is an article from TheTexas Observer by Christopher Hooks.
Kory Watkins article tx observer 2 6
2015
Few people in Texas history have
made enemies at the Capitol as quickly and decisively as Kory Watkins, the
leader of Open Carry Tarrant County, a group that proved too radical for the
main body of open carry demonstrators. Lobbying for the right to carry handguns
openly in public and without a license, he’s almost single-handedly turned what should have been a sympathetic Legislature against his
core cause, irritating and alienating natural friends and generally making
himself a nuisance.
Today, he took a big step toward Travis Bickle
territory, warning legislators that their behavior was “punishable by death”
and that there’s “going to be trouble” if they don’t cave to his demands.
It’s not the first time he’s crossed
the line from nuisance to threat: Open Carry Tarrant County’s shameful behavior
in state Rep. Poncho Nevárez’s office freaked out the whole Legislature, and caused
the Department of Public Safety to give Nevárez a security detail. Dan Patrick,
after inadvertently infuriating the open carry guys, has tried to give them consolation
prizes. The Senate would allow guns on college campuses, Patrick emphasized. Maybe licensed open carry had a chance.
But open carry activists like
Watkins want unlicensed open carry, in part because quite a few of them have criminal backgrounds and can’t get a concealed handgun license under current
law.
This morning, Watkins uploaded a
video monologue to his Facebook page. It quickly got taken down, but not before
anti-open carry activists took it and uploaded it to YouTube.
“Last week, we got to see the games
of the legislators,” Watkins tells the camera. “Looks like we have campus
carry, no problem. But open carry? I don’t know about that,” he says, mimicking
a legislator.
“We should be demanding that these
people give us our rights back. Or else it’s punishable by death.” He challenges
his audience of activists not to take the bait: “Are you going to settle for
the low-hanging fruit that your masters are putting on the tree for you? Or are
you going to go to the top of the tree and grab that fruit at the very top?”
Watkins has had enough. “I’m tired
of jacking around. I’m tired of playing politically correct games. I’m tired of
saying, ‘Well, this is chess, and we gotta take this slowly.’ No, no, no, no,
no. This isn’t a game. This is reality. And these are our rights they’re playing
with.”
Then, he goes too far: “I dunno if
they forgot what their duty is, but it’s to protect the Constitution. And let
me remind you: Going against the Constitution is treason. And treason is
punishable by death.”
The men and women of the Legislature
would do well to heed his words. “We’re not playing around. I don’t think they
wanna mess with us too much longer.” If they did, something new would be coming
at them. “They better start giving us our rights, or this peaceful
non-cooperation stuff is gonna be, um, gamed up. We’re gonna step it up a
notch.”
He’d just about had it. “In Texas
we’re tired of jacking around with people in suits who think they can take away
freedoms in the name of safety,” Watkins says. “These politicians down there
are jacking around with your head.”
In Nevárez’s office, Watkins had
stuck his foot in the door, preventing the rep from kicking him fully out
of his office. It’s time for more, Watkins says.
“I want to put more than my foot in
that door. We should be doing way more than that. We should be demanding that
these people give us our rights back. Or else it’s punishable by death.
Treason,” Watkins says. “You understand how serious this is, Texas? We need to
start sticking more than foots in doors. This is treason against the
American people. You don’t sell my rights back to me. Or you’re gonna find
trouble.”
With that, he ends the recording.
