I Read the New Texas Gun Bills. Some Are Worse Than You Think.
What This One's About
I told you this was going to happen.
There's a bill in the Texas House right now that makes it a crime for anybody under 21 to possess any firearm, not an AR, any firearm. No exception for a 20-year-old home from deployment or a 16-year-old with a deer rifle. That's HB 606, filed Monday, November 9, the first day Texas lawmakers could file bills, six days after Democrats won the governor's office, the lieutenant governor's office, and their first Texas House majority in 24 years.
They ran on affordability. On day one they filed more than 20 gun bills: a red flag law that repeals last year's Anti-Red Flag Act, a private-sale ban with no family exception, a brand-new "assault weapon" definition in the Penal Code, a purchase-reporting list that goes to your sheriff, and a ban on 3D-printing a gun. I pulled the text of 17 of them myself. Some are worse than the gun groups are telling you. One is being oversold.
I'm in Florida. If they'll do this in Texas, they'll do it to you.
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/Chapters(27)
Each timestamp opens the video at that point on YouTube.
- 0:00I told you this was going to happen: HB 606
- 0:38Day one: more than 20 gun bills
- 1:10I'm not a Texan. Here's why I read them anyway.
- 2:06What Texas voters were actually sold: $156 million in ads
- 2:36Hinojosa in the New Yorker: "I call it permitless carry"
- 3:34They changed their ads, not their minds. It took six days.
- 3:47I pulled the text of 17 bills
- 4:10HB 606: nobody under 21 possesses any firearm
- 4:50HB 218: the red flag bill, "without a hearing"
- 5:38It repeals the 2025 Anti-Red Flag Act
- 5:50SB 80: the one being oversold, and why it still matters
- 6:35HB 613: private sales, no family exception
- 6:53HB 659: two guns or four magazines and your sheriff gets your name
- 7:35SB 308: the 3D-printing ban
- 7:58Whose names are on them: Vikki Goodwin
- 8:442019: Moody's red flag bill, co-authored by Goodwin and Hinojosa
- 9:11The money: Everytown's $53 million, 17 to 1
- 9:59What's stopping it: 19 Republican senators
- 10:30The wall already has cracks: the Senate rules fight
- 11:13Republicans cross over: the 2023 8-5 committee vote
- 11:36How Texas got here: Abbott ran behind Trump in all 254 counties
- 12:12If you're in Texas: no deals, no "common sense"
- 12:42Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
- 13:08Everybody else: search "firearm" on your legislature's site
- 13:50What are you going to do about it?
- 14:05The free weekly Intel Brief
- 14:50Share this one
/Sources & Receipts(37)
Everything cited in the video, so you can read it yourself instead of taking my word for it.
The filing day
The bills (90th Legislature, Texas Legislature Online)
- ↗HB 606 (Lalani): under-21 purchase/possession of any firearm
- ↗HB 610 (Lalani): transfers to under-21
- ↗HB 218 (Ann Johnson): extreme risk protective orders; repeals Ch. 7C CCP
- ↗SB 80 (Zaffirini): "assault weapon" definition; under-21 restrictions
- ↗HB 613: private transfers through a licensed dealer
- ↗HB 659: multiple-purchase reporting to DPS and county sheriff
- ↗SB 308: 3D-printed firearms and components; file sharing
- ↗HB 660 (Moody): disposal of firearms under protective orders/bond conditions
- ↗HB 658 (Moody): child access, third-degree felony
- ↗HB 609 (Lalani): negligent access penalty increase
What they ran on
Whose names are on them
The 2025 Anti-Red Flag Act
The money
What's standing in the way
How Texas got here
Where I'm Coming From
Bill summaries are my reading of the filed text, not a lawyer's; the 254-county Abbott/Trump comparison is my own tally from Secretary of State results. Not legal advice.
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