Texas Legislators Receive TSRA PAC Awards


When prefiling of bills for the 2025 Texas Legislative Session began last November, it was clear that anti-gun lawmakers were in full attack mode against law-abiding Texans and their Second Amendment rights. In the first few days of prefiling, we saw at least twenty radical bills filed that, if passed, would drastically impact our gun rights in the Lone Star State.

Undaunted, the TSRA PAC Legislative Team vowed to not only stop these measures in their tracks, but also to work alongside pro-gun lawmakers to pass as many good bills as possible for TSRA members during the 140-day Regular Session, which ran from January 14 to June 2. During that time, we tracked over 200 firearm-related measures throughout the legislative process.

These efforts paid off and we are grateful to the state lawmakers who were instrumental in helping TSRA and our members achieve significant wins this session. To show our gratitude for their tremendous work and support, the TSRA PAC presented TSRA Snorting Bull Freedom Fighter Awards to the following Senators and Representatives this week:

(Note: additional legislators are slated to receive awards in the coming weeks as the special legislative session commences)



Sen. Bob Hall
Sen. Hall valiantly sought to repeal the misguided Texas State Fair gun ban this session (authoring SB 1065, which ultimately died in the House), and he sponsored and passed legislation ending taxpayer-funded gun buybacks (HB 3053) during the 2025 Regular Session. “Senator Bob Hall is a Second Amendment stalwart, and we appreciate his work fighting to protect our gun rights on public property and preventing tax dollars from being used to collect and destroy firearms,” said TSRA Executive Director and acting Legislative Director John Poole.



Sen. Brent Hagenbuch
Sen. Hagenbuch authored and passed SB 1596, legislation repealing the state ban on short-barreled firearms, during the 2025 Regular Session.  “If Congress ever repeals the National Firearms Act, the Texas Legislature will have already removed an unnecessary state barrier to ownership of these guns by law-abiding citizens,” said Poole. “We thank Senator Hagenbuch for his steadfast work to preserve Second Amendment freedoms this session.”



Rep. Briscoe Cain
“Thanks to Representative Cain’s unwavering dedication to protecting the due process rights of law-abiding citizens, the Texas Legislature took a critical step this session to prevent the enforcement of unconstitutional red flag laws in the Lone Star State,” said Poole, on passage of SB 1362.  Rep. Cain authored similar legislation in 2023 and again in 2025, leading the discussion on and demonstrating his commitment to tackling this important issue in the Texas Legislature.



Rep. Richard Hayes
Rep. Hayes prefiled 2025 legislation in the House repealing the state ban on short-barreled firearms (HB 259), and he sponsored and passed SB 1596 in that chamber when it came over from the Senate. This issue has been a passion project of his for two legislative sessions now.  He fought tenaciously to ensure that this timely bill passed this session, as Congress was debating removing SBRs and SBSs from the National Firearms Act. “We owe a debt of gratitude to Representative Hayes for his staunch support of our Second Amendment rights this session,” said Poole.



Rep. Carrie Isaac
Representative Carrie Isaac sponsored and passed SB 706, legislation requiring Texas to recognize all valid out of state gun carry licenses, during the 2025 Regular Session.  “Texas has now taken a lead role in the fight to move towards National Right to Carry Reciprocity,” said Poole.  “We thank Representative Isaac for working to ensure that the right to defend oneself does not end at the Texas state line.”

 
The work done by the TSRA PAC does not conclude now that the Regular Session has ended. TSRA is the only state association with a year-round, full-time legislative staff and your generous help is what keeps us going! Please consider a contribution to the TSRA PAC today!

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Story by TSRA PAC Legislative Team
July 22, 2025