Texas governor defends law allowing guns in churches that Biden called ‘irrational’
Gov. Greg Abbott lashed out this week at former Vice President Joe Biden for his comments last year that criticized a new law that allows licensed handgun owners to carry their weapons in churches.
Critics of the Democratic presidential candidate revived the months-old comments this week after a member of the West Freeway Church of Christ security team took down a gunman who had fatally shot two members during a service on Sunday.
In September, after the new law went into effect, Biden said: “It is irrational, with all due respect to the governor of Texas, it’s irrational what they’re doing.”
Abbott on Thursday was asked to respond to Biden’s 2019 comments Thursday after he attended the funeral for Rich White, who was killed after he rose to confront gunman Keith Kinnunen at the White Settlement church.
“It shows that people like Joe Biden should not be so rash and hasty and try to criticize someone, not knowing that the law that I signed truly saved lives,” Abbott said.
The governor said the laws passed in Texas that are designed to make churches and schools safer.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can to make our schools a safe place,” Abbott said. “No child should be afraid to be in a school. No parent should be afraid to drop their child off at school. We’re working to achieve that goal.
“The same thing goes with places of worship,” he said. “People are being assaulted in religious locations across the United States. Our goal as government leaders and Texans is to make places of worship and places of education as safe as possible.”
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from Biden’s presidential campaign Friday.
This story was originally published January 3, 2020 at 1:39 PM.
