Governor Responds ‘Texas Style’ to Anti-Gun 9th Circuit Court Ruling

Greg Abbott with Shotgun
Photo: Facebook/Greg Abbott
Bob Price

Texas Governor Greg Abbott responded in the clearest way any Texan could to the ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that Americans don’t have the right to carry a concealed handgun. The governor invoked Texas’ original response to gun control activists, “Come and Take It.”

Abbott took to twitter to express his displeasure at the ruling by the nation’s most liberal court of appeals, located in California. In a Twitter post that has now been retweeted nearly 4,000 times and favorited nearly 5,000 times, The governor tweeted a photo of the image of the Gonzales Flag flown in a battle during the lead up to Texas’ gaining independence from Mexico.

Breitbart News’ 2nd Amendment writer, AWR Hawkins, reported on the court’s action in an article on Thursday after the court ruled in favor of the State of California’s law that requires its citizens to show “good cause” before a concealed carry permit can be issues. California is what is referred to as a “may issue” state instead of the more common “shall issue” language used by most states.

The 9th Circuit Court heard ruled on the case in 2014 and sided with the plaintiff’s that the more restrictive “good cause” language violated the individuals 2nd Amendment rights.  Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain’s majority opinion for the three-judge panel emphasized that “the right to bear arms includes the right to carry an operable arm outside the home for the lawful purpose of self-defense,” Hawkins reported.

The court decided to hear the case en banc (before the entire body of the court) following pressure from the California Attorney General, U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris.

The court’s en banc ruling went in the opposite direction, upholding the “good cause” requirement and unequivocally stating that Americans have no right to carry a concealed gun outside the home for self-defense, Hawkins stated. Writing in the majority opinion, Judge Williams Fletcher said, “We hold that the Second Amendment does not preserve or protect a right of a member of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.”

It is not the first time the Texas governor has invoked this iconic symbol of the state’s rebellion against an overreaching government. In April 2014, Abbott responded to the Bureau of Land Management’s land grab along the state’s Red River border with Oklahoma in an exclusive interview with Breitbart Texas. The then Texas Attorney General spoke out against the BLM’s actions saying, ““I am about ready to go to the Red River and raise a ‘Come and Take It’ flag to tell the feds to stay out of Texas.”

Earlier this year, Breitbart Texas’ Lana Shadwick reported when the governor responded yet again to President Obama’s threats to impose more gun control through executive action. Abbott tweeted, “Obama wants to impose more gun control. My response.#? COME AND TAKE IT @NRA #tcot #PJNET.”

The response on Twitter to that message was also well received as more than 5,500 people retweeted the message and nearly 6,000 favorited the tweet.

Many responded to the governor’s message on Friday about the 9th Circuit Court’s ruling.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with additional content.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

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