Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) decision to negotiate the largest federal gun control package in nearly three decades has transformed his 2026 re-election campaign into what political observers believe could be a defining moment for Second Amendment politics nationwide.
The Texas Republican now faces fierce primary challenges from Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, with pro-gun organizations mobilizing against him in a race that may establish a new template for insurgent challengers against establishment Republicans perceived as weak on gun rights.
Cornyn led the Republican negotiations for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, legislation that expanded background checks for buyers under 21, set aside funding for state “red flag” laws, and closed so-called “loopholes” with respect to domestic abusers. Further, the bill created new federal crimes for straw purchases and arms trafficking.
The backlash to this bill was swift and severe. The Collin County Republican Party officially censured him for compromising on gun control. Now, as the 2026 primary approaches, that local rebuke has metastasized into a full scale assault on Cornyn’s political future.
The National Association for Gun Rights has mounted relentless criticism of Cornyn’s Second Amendment credentials during this election cycle. NAGR PAC has labeled Cornyn as “the Gun Control Lobby’s best friend in the GOP” and characterized him as “one of the United States Senate’s leading architects of gun control.” In a Republican primary where voters demand unwavering commitment to firearms rights, these accusations carry enormous weight.
The senator’s record on gun issues extends well beyond his 2022 legislation. His support for the “FIX NICS” Act in 2017 and 2018 significantly enlarged the federal gun ban database, creating pathways for government officials to restrict Americans’ gun rights without proper legal protections. Veterans bore the brunt of this expansion, losing their Second Amendment rights in staggering numbers following the law’s enactment.
Taylor Rhodes, NAGR’s Communications Director, highlighted the impact this legislation has had on veterans. “Since then, an additional 70,568 of America’s finest veterans have had their gun rights stripped without due process because of this reckless act.” VA beneficiaries listed in the NICS Index climbed from 194,325 before Cornyn’s legislation to 264,893 by December 2023.
Ken Paxton has cast himself as the steadfast Second Amendment champion that gun rights groups argue Texas requires in the Senate. His tenure as Texas Attorney General has secured him an A+ rating from Gun Owners of America along with formal endorsements from both GOA and NAGR PAC. Paxton has consistently attacked Cornyn as an “anti-gun establishment politician” for collaborating with Democrats to deliver the bipartisan package to former President Joe Biden’s desk, who promptly signed it into law.
These organizational endorsements follow Paxton’s demonstrated commitment to gun rights as Attorney General. Working alongside GOA, Paxton brought federal cases against Biden’s ATF that successfully halted the pistol brace ban and the “universal registration rule,” obtaining preliminary injunctions that safeguarded Texans and GOA members across the nation. He sued the ATF in 2022 to shield Texas manufactured suppressors from federal interference, and in 2024, he contested Biden’s expanded background check requirements on private transactions.
Gun Owners of America President Erich Pratt lauded Paxton’s achievements as Texas Attorney General. “Ken Paxton is the no-compromise conservative fighter we need in Washington. As Texas Attorney General, he has repeatedly proven that he will not back down from defending our God-given Second Amendment rights.”
Chris McNutt, president of Texas Gun Rights, sent a letter to the White House pressing Trump to withhold any Cornyn endorsement, declaring “This is not about partisan games — it’s about principle. Texas gun owners remember who wrote the blueprint for Biden’s gun control agenda, and we won’t stand idly by while the architect asks for our vote.”
In correspondence with AmmoLand, McNutt painted the primary contest in unambiguous language. “For the first time in decades, the Senate compromiser is facing a serious primary challenger in Ken Paxton, America’s most pro-gun Attorney General. Gun owners finally have a choice: someone who has consistently stabbed them in the back, or someone who has consistently defended them. The contrast couldn’t be more clear.”
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston has likewise charged that Cornyn “sold Texans out,” according to The Texas Tribune. Hunt’s campaign declared “There’s no rewriting Sen. Cornyn’s record on the Second Amendment. You can’t strip the rights of law-abiding citizens and call it ‘progress.’ Texans know better.”
Cornyn has sought to emphasize the mental health and school security provisions in the legislation while highlighting his alleged opposition to gun control measures. “The bill hardened schools to protect our children and invested the most money in American history for mental health services,” Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak said in an email to the Texas Tribune. “Sen. Cornyn has consistently received an A+ rating from the NRA and the National Sports Shooting Association, and he has been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment his entire career which will not change.”
As the bill moved through the Senate, Cornyn recognized the political complexities involved. “This is an issue that divides much of the country, depending on where you live, and maybe divides people living in the same household. But I think we have found some areas where there’s space for compromise and we’ve also found that there are some red lines and no middle ground.”
Yet for staunch Second Amendment advocates, that readiness to discover “space for compromise” represents the main problem with Cornyn’s approach. In effect, Cornyn’s compromise gives anti-gun forces more wiggle room to operate and gain ground in the gun control space. The Texas primary now serves as a testing ground in whether mainstream Republicans who broker deals on gun policy can withstand primary challenges from the right. Should Cornyn lose, it may herald a political transformation where any willingness to negotiate firearms policy proves deadly in Republican primaries.
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About José Niño
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can contact him via Facebook and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
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