Tyler Smith registered against expanding gun rights in Texas. Now he wants a vote in the Legislature that writes those laws.
A professional gun-control advocate who works for Michael Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety is trying to go from lobbying Texas lawmakers to becoming one.
Democrat Tyler Smith, an associate regional director for Everytown, is challenging Republican state Rep. Lacey Hull in Houston-area House District 138, according to an October 29 report from The Texan.
Smith isn’t a casual supporter of gun control. He builds coalitions around firearms policy for a living, has worked the Texas legislative process on Everytown’s behalf, and has been endorsed by the organization that employs him.
Everytown Wants Its Activists Writing the Laws
Everytown has made no secret of its plan to turn gun-control activists into elected officials.
In February, the group endorsed Smith as part of a slate of candidates who came out of Moms Demand Action, its grassroots network. Everytown President John Feinblatt described the goal plainly: move activists from advocating for legislation into positions where they write it.
Its Demand a Seat program trains gun-control volunteers and survivors to run for office and work on campaigns. Everytown says it has trained more than 1,200 volunteers across 47 states and Washington, D.C.
Smith is exactly what that program is built to produce.
He Already Opposed Expanding Gun Rights in Texas
Smith’s campaign website highlights bipartisan coalition-building and $2 million secured for community violence-prevention programs. His record tells a fuller story.
On April 14, 2025, Smith registered against House Bill 259 on behalf of Everytown at a hearing of the Texas House Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Registering puts a witness’s position on the official record without spoken testimony. HB 259 would have removed short-barreled firearms from the state’s prohibited-weapons statute, ending a state-level restriction on their lawful possession and manufacture.
HB 259 stalled in committee, but its identical Senate companion, SB 1596, passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. It took effect September 1, 2025.
Smith went further on House Bill 4201, testifying against it before
the House Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs Committee on April 14, 2025. HB 4201 would have expanded the locations where licensed handgun holders could legally carry firearms, including certain businesses serving alcohol, hospitals, and nursing homes, while repealing several existing restrictions on licensed carry.
On one bill, he put Everytown’s opposition on the record. On the other, he spoke against it in person.
The Agenda Behind Everytown
Everytown’s national platform goes far beyond the violence-prevention programs Smith’s campaign emphasizes. It calls for:
- bans on commonly owned semiautomatic firearms
- bans on standard-capacity magazines
- expanded background-check mandates
- red flag confiscation laws
- limits on carrying in public, including required permits for concealed carry, which would reverse Texas’ Constitutional Carry
Universal background checks open the door to government tracking of private sales and the registration systems needed to enforce them. Red flag laws allow courts to seize firearms based on allegations, without a criminal conviction. Rifle and magazine bans target the firearms Texans most commonly own and use lawfully.
Smith’s campaign talks about community safety. His paycheck comes from the organization pushing that agenda.
The 2027 Session Is on the Line
The 90th Legislature convenes in January 2027, and every House seat matters.
Texas Gun Rights’ 2027 legislative agenda calls for:
- passing Kyle’s Law to strengthen civil-liability protections for lawful self-defense
- eliminating state and local sales taxes on firearms and ammunition
- abolishing remaining statutory gun-free zones
- enacting a Second Amendment Preservation Act to stop state and local enforcement of federal gun restrictions stricter than Texas law
Every one of those reforms needs votes in the House. So does stopping new background-check mandates, carry restrictions, and gun regulations.
“Texas has made enormous progress restoring the right to keep and bear arms, but the job is nowhere near finished,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights. “We are going into the 2027 session fighting to eliminate gun-free zones, protect lawful self-defense, and stop government enforcement of unconstitutional gun control. Those are the standards we will demand from lawmakers in both parties.”
Texas Gun Rights judges Republicans by their votes, not their party label. Voters in HD 138 deserve the same clarity about the challenger.
The Choice in HD 138
Hull has represented House District 138, in Harris County, since 2021. Her challenger has spent his career working for a national gun-control group, and he has opposed expanding gun rights in Texas, both on paper and in testimony.
He registered against your right to own a short-barreled rifle. Now he wants a vote on the rest of your rights.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Find your polling place at VoteTexas.gov.
Chip in to Texas Gun Rights to help expose gun-control lobbying in Austin and defend a no-compromise Second Amendment agenda in the 2027 session.
