By Bud Kennedy
bud@star-telegram.com
When passions are raging between the gun hoarders and gun haters, we expect leaders to choose their words carefully.
But this is Texas, so there's no chance of that.
In a week of lies and whoppers, Texas leaders shot their mouths off like a whole state full of Yosemite Sams, led by an attorney general and potential governor with what you might call a hair-Twitter temper.
When Travis County leaders asked whether they could reject gun show rentals -- they can't -- Greg Abbott took to his keyboard to tweet an instant attorney general's opinion: "They better be ready for a double-barreled lawsuit."
Then, in a politically risky move in Texas, he came out for Yankees.
Abbott bought online ads inviting even more New Yorkers to move on down.
"Keep Your Guns," one ad read.
"Come to TX."
An old West-style "WANTED" poster beckoned for "LAW ABIDING NEW YORK GUN OWNERS" to move here, "keep more of what you earn" and "buy more ammo."
The Daily Beast headlined it: "Texas Calls All Gun-Toting Yanks."
It happened the same week when our current governor, Rick Perry, sized up mass killings and identified a culprit: "demons."
"There is evil," he said in a written statement, "in our movies, video games and online fascinations," noting particular disgust for "the political left and their cohorts in the media."
Well, gosh. There you have it.
You know, Perry once claimed he killed a coyote.
And Manti Te'o claimed he had a girlfriend.
That's not to mention U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Friendswood) and state Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands), who threatened to (1) launch impeachment proceedings against President Barack Obama (Stockman) and (2) arrest, charge and imprison any federal officer enforcing a new gun law (Toth).
Guys, I'm confused.
If you think Texas can just ignore federal law, why fret over the president?
I think we're all looking for rational, sane leaders to uphold and balance gun rights, liberty and safety.
We just don't have any in Texas.
Bud Kennedy's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538,817-390-7538Twitter: @bud
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