Republican lieutenant governor of Texas 'willing to take an arrow' from NRA over gun sale background checks

Dan Patrick.
(Image credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

The next National Rifle Association report card for Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) might not be as sterling as normal, but it seems that's a risk he's willing to take.

Patrick defied the NRA on Friday when he endorsed expanding the state's background checks to include private gun sales less than a week after a mass shooting in the Odessa, Texas, area, in which the alleged gunman reportedly purchased his weapon privately despite failing a previous background check.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.