Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) rejected the idea that firearm restrictions could be passed via executive order on Sunday while dismissing President Biden’s measures addressing gun violence as a “show.”
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Abbott addressed executive orders Biden signed this week requiring the Justice Department to publish model red flag legislation for states as well as other actions including efforts to tamp down on so-called “ghost guns,” which are firearms assembled from homemade kits that do not have serial numbers.
“I think that there is no acceptable way that a president by executive order can infringe upon Second Amendment rights or alter Second Amendment rights,” Abbott said.
“[I]f the president wanted to do something more than show…if the president really wanted to do something substantively, what he really could do by executive order is to eliminate the backlog of complaints that have already been filed about gun crimes that have taken place,” the governor continued.
Host Chris Wallace then asked Abbott during the interview if there was any legislation at the federal level addressing gun violence, such as expanding background checks, that he would support. Abbott confirmed that it was unlikely that he would support any new restrictions.
“Texans and Americans know they need their Second Amendment rights to defend themselves at a time when the United States government and other governments are doing less to defend our fellow Americans, and that is exactly why we should not have any further limitations of our Second Amendment rights,” he said.
His comments come as efforts to reform gun laws have taken the center stage following mass shootings in past weeks in several states, including Texas.
A 27-year-old is charged with murder after allegedly opening fire in a store in Bryan, Texas, killing one person on Thursday.