Texas Gov. Perry Urges Fight Against Gun Control
HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Texas Gov. Rick Perry says passing new gun control laws won't stop criminals and would only make law-abiding citizens easy targets by depriving them of weapons to defend themselves.
Perry spoke Friday at the National Rifle Association convention's political rally.
Perry said issues such as tighter background checks on guns sales would only hurt non-criminals who want to buy them. Perry says there are "no easy fixes" to gun violence, but that limiting gun ownership is not the answer.
In January, Perry lashed out at President Barack Obama's plan on the heels of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to curb gun violence, saying that the Second Amendment trumps Barack Obama or any other president.
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"The piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally," Perry said in a statement. "The Second Amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president."
Perry has also supported allowing permit holders to carry concealed weapons in any public place -- including teachers in schools. Democrat Jim Himes -- a Congressman in a district to Newtown, Connecticut -- lit into Perry over the comments.
Perry, who is a concealed handgun license holder himself, also said he will continue courting gun and ammunition manufacturers to relocate to Texas, one of the most gun-friendly states in the country.
(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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