James Talarico

And suddenly you saw Americans across the political spectrum, across the country, speaking out against this kind of government censorship, speaking out in defense of the freedom of speech.

I was not anticipating that would happen, but I'm really glad it did because we need that bipartisan commitment to our most fundamental freedoms.

A threat to any of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights, whether you're a conservative or a progressive, a Democrat or a Republican or a libertarian or a socialist.

We all depend on the ability to speak, the ability to assemble.

And when those freedoms are threatened, especially when they're threatened by the government, we all have to loudly speak out against it.

Well, I'm a believer in the Second Amendment.

I don't pick and choose between the Bill of Rights.

The same reason I value the freedom of speech and the freedom of worship, the same reason I value the right to bear arms, because you have a fundamental right to protect yourself and to protect your family.

In Texas, there's a proud tradition of

passing along guns from one generation to the other, whether it's for self-defense, whether it's for sport, whether it's for hunting, it is a part of our culture and our heritage.

And I value that.

Like many Texans, like many gun owners,

I also believe in gun safety.

In fact, when I was taught how to shoot by my granddad in Harper, Texas on his property, and safety was the thing that he drilled into me.

And I think any young Texan who is learning how to handle a firearm for the first time, safety is the thing that they're taught.

And so all I want is I want our public policies to reflect that value of safety.

And that means universal background checks to ensure that guns aren't falling into the hands of terrorists or dangerous people.

It's ensuring that we have safe storage laws so that guns are safely secured within the home.

It's ensuring that we have...

that we're coming together to close loopholes, like the gun show loophole, where anybody can walk into one of these gun shows and walk out with a powerful weapon.