The Texas attorney general offered the National Rifle Association a big Lone Star State “howdy” days after New York sued to dissolve the Second Amendment stalwart, saying “we care about what the founders put in the Constitution.”
“I can tell you one thing in Texas that we care about, and I think we will always care about, is God and guns,” Ken Paxton said Sunday on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
He explained that the First Amendment protects free speech and religious expression and the Second Amendment secures the right to own guns.
“And in Texas we care about what the founders put in the Constitution, and we love it,” Paxton said.
He said he would “absolutely” welcome the NRA to Texas because “they have done amazing work over the years defending the Second Amendment.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the NRA last Thursday, seeking to break up the organization and accusing top brass of ignoring non-profit rules to fund lavish lifestyles that included international travel, pricey yachts and private jets.
The suit seeks the dismissal of Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre.
Asked how the pro-gun group would benefit from a move, Paxton said Texas wouldn’t mess with it.
“I think it’s a little late now, but we certainly would invite them to come to Texas to avoid this in the future because if they’re in New York, it opens them up to investigation by the attorney general’s office in a way that I don’t think would happen in Texas, so I would encourage them to move as soon as they can,” he said.
Paxton said the timing of James’ suit “looks extremely political,” coming months before the election.
“If you want to do this investigation, do it quietly,” he said. “If you’re going to announce something, announce it after the election, but what it looks like — and she [James] claims they’re a terrorist organization — this looks like a terrorist operation going against the NRA in trying to make it political as opposed to a legitimate investigation.”
The NRA is headquartered in Virginia, but was chartered as a non-profit in 1871 in New York, where it remains incorporated to this day.