UVALDE, Tx. — Social media is ablaze with renewed and brutal criticism against a strange Texas state law that limits the number of dildos someone can own to six. However, there is no law preventing the open carry of a gun with no training. Such a disparity between these laws is a stark display of how Texas — and conservative America — views gun rights and Second Amendment versus sexual freedom and the First Amendment of the Constitution.
This criticism comes after the country is reeling from the mass school shooting carried out by an 18 year old gunman killing 19 children and two teachers at a school in the town of Uvalde — southwest of San Antonio. A tactical team from the United States Border Patrol killed the gunmen after a standoff between police and the killer that has riled public backlash amid claims of incident mismanagement and inaction.
According to Texas’ obscenity statute, it is illegal for someone to own more than six “obscene devices.” Per section 43.23 of the penal code, “a person commits an offense if, knowing its content and character, he wholesale promotes or possesses with intent to wholesale promote any obscene material or obscene device.”
Violations of this portion of the obscenity statute would result in a class two felony criminal offense. In 2008, a federal judge ruled that the law was facially unconstitutional and unenforceable. But, this portion of the law was never officially repealed and remains on the law books. By comparison, the regulation of firearms and the ownership and use of firearms has lessened.
Indy100.com journalist Ellie Abraham wrote that high-profile political leaders in Texas, like US Senator Ted Cruz, “has enforced more rules on dildos than assault rifles.”
In 2016, students at the University of Texas at Austin protested against a statewide campus carry law that was implemented giving people on a public college campus the right to carry a firearm under the guise of personal protections. The protestors poked fun at the law by naming their march “Cocks not Glocks“. The campus carry law was passed the year before by the Texas legislature and entered into effect on August 1, 2016 — the anniversary of the 1966 campus massacre carried by Charles Whitman (the Texas Tower Sniper) fifty years to the date.
Many social media users have collectively criticized the obscenity law while comparing such a control to the seemingly unrestricted accessibility of firearms, including assault rifles and handguns, across the state of 28.64 million.
Here’s a few of the takes from Twitter:
https://twitter.com/nicsigni/status/1529843267801587712?s=20&t=UgMJD-vCnEU6SxYIpz3bQA
https://twitter.com/GroomerBunnie/status/1530233072511242240?s=20&t=KAqxS2xuIBtClJ–7xV5GA
https://twitter.com/VampireSuburban/status/1530038932070469632?s=20&t=cotN-jsZqck4FAic4yQMPQ
Texas State Capitol photo by LoneStarMike licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. It has been cropped and resized.
