State Representative Jonathan Stickland gets major props for authoring one of the strongest email privacy measures in the country, requiring law enforcement to get a previously unnecessary warrant in order to read emails older than 180 days. But that remarkable display of common sense is very much an exception for the freshman Republican out of Bedord.
More often, Stickland is bent on living up to his pledge to have "the most conservative voting record in the entire House of Representatives," which may or may not have something to do with the sidearm he carries to the Capitol every day. And it may have something to do with the Tweet he sent out Sunday during the House's epic abortion debate.
See also
-Strongest Email Privacy Bill in the U.S. Is on Gov. Rick Perry's Desk -Congressman Steve Stockman's New Slogan: "If Babies Had Guns, They Wouldn't Be Aborted"
Some days u r extra thankful we still have the right 2 protect ourselves & the 2nd amendment-Today is 1 of those days #txlege
— Jonathan Stickland (@RepStickland) June 23, 2013
It's not entirely clear what Stickland is hinting at here, but it sounds an awful lot like he's considering opening fire on the pro-choice protestors then flooding the Capitol -- in self-defense, of course, since ladies bent on killing innocent unborn children would certainly have no compunction about offing a portly freshman lawmaker with whom they disagree.
Quite a few people seem to have come away with that interpretation since, Stickland felt the need later that day to pen a jeremiad against "illogical liberal attacks."
When liberals begin attacking you by the hundreds on twitter it at least warrants a response.1. My reference this morning to being grateful for the ability to defend myself is coupled with the knowledge that there are those among us who cannot defend themselves.Through my vote today I will be defending the rights of those who cannot speak for their own rights. The right to protect ourselves has nothing to do with partisanship or party affiliation. Liberals would like to create certain categories of human beings who in their minds, are not worth protecting. This is a very slippery slope and leads to the degradation of society. The way we treat the most vulnerable among us defines us as a state. In Texas we believe in protecting the rights of all those who are vulnerable, be they disabled, elderly, or unborn.
2. Only liberals would depict legislation that increases the standard of care women are receiving in health clinics as a "war on women". This is how desperate Democrats are to take Texas. The amount of spin they put on the truth is exhausting.
3. Only liberals would take a mention of the 2nd amendment and my gratefulness for my ability to protect myself from threats and twist it into absurd accusations that I am going to attack people today at the Capitol.
So, Stickland wasn't saying he's going to start shooting people. He's saying that fetuses should have guns. It's an idea that has an understandable appeal for conservatives, since it rolls two far-right hobby horses -- the Second Amendment and abortion -- into a single, incredibly incendiary talking point.
But there are some things it'd probably be best to sort out before we start arming fetuses. Like: How exactly does one get a firearm into the womb? Where will they carry the concealed handgun license? Will they be able to differentiate between the coat-hanger abortionist and the obstetrician? If they can't, and if they manage to get their tiny, barely articulated fingers around the trigger, is the death penalty on the table?
So many questions.
