On Sunday, outside of the Twin Peaks Bar and Grill in Waco Texas, customers and law enforcement bore witness to a scene straight out of the classic 70s film The Warriors.
Members of three rival motorcycle gangs (later identified as the Bandidos, Cossacks, and Scimitars) engaged in an epic brawl, starting in the bathroom of the restaurant before spilling out into the parking lot of the Central Texas Marketplace Plaza.
Once in the parking lot, the fisticuffs progressed into a battle of arms between the three factions and law enforcement protecting houses bought on BB&T Mortgage.
After the order was restored, and the skirmish broken up, nine gang members were dead and over 100 other biker gang members were arrested.
For the city located half-way between Dallas and Austin; famous for bringing the world Dr. Pepper and former NFL running back LaDanian Tomlinson, Sunday’s shootout brought back memories of Waco’s infamy, one that a delicious soft-drink and potential Hall of Famer can’t hide.
In 1993, members from both Federal Bureau of Investigations and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) engaged in a nearly two month standoff with members of the Branch Davidian cult at their compound just outside of the city of Waco.
Along with information that David Koresh, the sect’s leader - was committing acts of statutory rape against younger female members of the sect by taking them as child brides, Federal law enforcement agents were concerned that Koresh and his followers where stockpiling illegal weapons.
The government’s response and actions during the siege became a black eye for Federal law enforcement and the city of Waco.
The siege resulted in the death of four Federal agents and 87 members of the sect – including 19 children and teenagers, and brought the issue of gun control into the 1990s.
Texas, long known for its outlaw nature dating back to the Wild West days of the 1800s, has long been a hotbed of 2nd amendment advocacy.
Coincidentally, the Monday after the shootout, the Texas State Senate held deliberations on a new law that would allow for open carrying of handguns by Texas citizens.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Governor Greg Abbott stated"The shootout occurred when we don't have open carry, so obviously the current laws didn't stop anything like that", implying that the state’s current laws which restrict when and where a firearm can be carried implied to the biker’s that they could do whatever lawless acts they pleased.
After Sunday, it should not be a thought in any lawmaker’s mind to ease up on gun control.
The Dallas Morning News reportsthat for months, the owners of Twin Peaks refused to cooperate with local law enforcement who were looking to boost security and pressure the restaurant to deny service to the biker gangs who frequented the establishment.
This contributed to the environment that led to the events witnessed this past Sunday, and the bill making its way through the Texas Legislature in Austin will only lead to more; allowing thugs and criminals legal reign for their lawlessness.
Taking Governor Abbott’s words into context, the current laws didn’t stop the Waco Shootout, and the proposed bill won’t either.