Texas state rep cancels 'constitutional carry' bill after gun activist shows up at lawmakers' homes

This past February, Texas state Rep. Jonathan Stickland proposed a controversial “constitutional carry” bill that would allow Texans to openly carry guns without a permit. Chris McNutt, executive director of Texas Gun Rights, has been pressuring lawmakers to take up the bill and was apparently frustrated by a lack of progress. He decided to turn up the pressure by going to the homes of influential lawmakers, including the Lake Jackson home of Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Big mistake. From the Texas Tribune:

After news broke that an activist pushing a “constitutional carry” gun proposal tried to visit the homes of several Texas House leaders, state Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, declared his bill on the matter dead and wrote in a statement Friday he’s “officially canceling” his request for a committee hearing.

McNutt was intercepted by law enforcement on his way to Bonnen’s home, which Texas state troopers had been surveilling. From the Houston Chronicle:

On March 27, while Bonnen was 200 miles away in Austin for an all-day budget session, McNutt arrived in the Speaker’s neighborhood. As first reported by The Facts, a Brazoria County newspaper, officers with the Department of Public Safety were waiting for him. McNutt handed them a business card and left, Bonnen said.

As Shannon Watts of Moms Demand Action said, McNutt shot himself in the foot by going to Bonnen’s home.