Senator for Texas Ted Cruz has bashed actress and anti-gun activist Alyssa Milano on Twitter after she asked whether anyone could “cite [in] which passage of the Bible God states it is a god-given right to own a gun?”
Milano's initial tweet was addressed to Republican Texas State Representative Matt Schaefer, who argued that he was “NOT going to use the evil acts of a handful of people to diminish the God-given rights of my fellow Texans” and that “none of these so-called gun-control solutions will work to stop a person with evil intent”.
The comments by the representative from Texas were made in relation to a shooting rampage that occurred in Odessa, Texas on Sunday, 1 September, where a gunman killed seven and injured at least 22 before he was shot dead by police.
While the actress accused Schaefer of being “unbelievable and clearly owned by the gun lobby”, she got a long and detailed response from Senator Ted Cruz, who argued that Milano had an “excellent” question about the Bible and cited several passages from the book in order to illustrate that there are indeed some lines to prove his point.
Cruz started by saying that it was “of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family".
“The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible”, the senator continued, citing Exodus 22:2, where it is stated that “If a thief is caught breaking in at night & is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed”.
The Texas senator also noted that while all men are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, the Second Amendment provides that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, SHALL NOT be infringed”, which “wasn’t to protect people’s ability to hunt, or to shoot target practice, but to defend their lives, their homes & their families”.
In a 10-tweet-reply, the politician also cited the story of Stephen Willeford, who risked his life while trying to stop the shooter during the Sutherland Spring church massacre in 2017 and referred to the disarmament of African-Americans as an attempt to strip them of their right to “self-defense from violence”.
Cruz finished by saying that as a Texan, he believes that what happened in Odessa was “sick, deranged and horrifying” and that violent criminals with mental illness should be stopped “before they murder”, arguing that he is currently leading the fight in the Senate against these tragedies. The senator concluded the thread by stating that Democrat’s urge to confiscate guns will not “prevent mass-murders”, but rather “weaken our self-defense”.
Milano responded to him briefly by saying that she would “love to come in and meet” with the politician to discuss life issues – including the pursuit of happiness – and offered Cruz to have a joint “live-stream” session so that the American people could hear his “bulls**t 1st hand”.
Many netizens supported Cruz by arguing that it was “none of [your] business” to discuss “what arms we have” and also by asking whether the actress could show “where in the Bible it’s okay to murder babies”, referring to the liberal activist's pro-abortion stance.
Some, however, opposed the Texas senator’s Twitter thread by pointing out that “none of the shootings have involved defence of family”.
Alyssa Milano, a 46-year-old actress, has previously expressed her support for the Democratic Party in its campaign in the 2020 election and announced the creation of a fund that would potentially help them secure victory in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.