Alex Jones exposes paid anti-gun testimony at a Capitol hearing, alleging witnesses from Young Texans Against Gun Violence and Texans for Gun Safety accepted cash, stipends, and travel expenses totaling up to $20,000 to support instant background check bills. He accuses Dave Smith of funding these individuals through the Catholic Campaign for Human Development while deflecting racism accusations, contrasting their claims of lost wage reimbursement with their unemployment status. Ultimately, Jones frames this as a coordinated globalist agenda to disarm Americans, citing historical parallels to Hitler and questioning the integrity of open government processes regarding gun control legislation. [Automatically generated summary]
I ran to get the camera, and I missed it, and I came back, and I caught him, and he hid the money.
She told me that the woman...
We went over there, and he was counting them out, the money.
I saw 120. We think he gave each guy, like, $400, right?
Well, no.
All I saw was $400 that I saw him count out.
A lot of you guys are looking from the outside in.
You know what I'm saying?
You guys are looking in on the situation and you guys are living it day to day.
I have friends who sell guns, who buy guns from people who go to the gun shows and get guns at large quantities.
You know, I mean, I know all these people.
I live there, where all this is going on.
And, I mean, you guys might think That they already have everything under control, but it's not.
I mean, regardless if we pass this law or not, things might change, but this right here, this bill, all three of these bills, this is just the beginning.
Because there's bigger threats out there and there's bigger laws that we need to focus on that aren't being enforced in America.
But these three house bills right here, this is...
Just the beginning, from all forward.
And like I said, you guys are looking, most of you guys are looking out from the outside because I'm there.
I'm there every day.
I've even gone into researching.
I don't even want to know where these companies are located at none of that.
But...
But then what makes you think that they're selling guns?
Who else is going to get them?
They don't have a factory in the hood where they're making guns.
You don't think some of those guns might be stolen?
They're not, man, how can, where are you going to get too many stolen guns from?
From 200 houses in a year, 10 houses in a year.
I see nobody, nobody says, all right, nobody.
Thank you.
So, I'm sorry, just wanted to clarify.
I think what I'm hearing you saying that at least one source of these guns on the street is the gun show.
Yes.
Thank you.
First question I would like to ask is, do we have an epidemic of gun violence because the performance of the legislation It delays the very well-intended and sincere testimony from my March members and others would lead to believe we have an epidemic of gun violence.
That is not the case.
Texas and the United States are safer than they have ever been.
I won't go into detail.
Payments to Gun Bill Backers00:04:11
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If you look through the clipping file here that has information from the National Center for Health Statistics and the Center for Disease Control, U.S. gun deaths at lowest since mid-'60s, you'll see that we do not have an epidemic of gun violence.
Questions arise over cash given to three witnesses who support gun show background checks.
Proponents of gun owners' rights asked lawmakers Friday to investigate cash payments made to three Houston men who appeared before a House committee this week to support bills that would require instant background checks at gun shows.
Dave Smith, president of Houston-based Texans for Gun Safety, A known front that is funded by Hanger Control Incorporated said he gave the three members of Young Texans Against Gun Violence, Nina Butts' group is Texans Against Gun Violence, about 300 each to cover their expenses and lost wages for the trip.
All three men, however, said they are currently unemployed.
So they can't get their lies straight.
That's lie number four right there.
It was reimbursement for their jobs, but they're unemployed.
Otarius Kelly, 20, one of the witnesses said it is ridiculous that someone would raise concerns about their testimony.
It's against my morals, Kelly said.
An admitted gang member, by the way, in the Houston Chronicle.
There's another story about this in there.
Another witness agreed.
The money that was given to us was not to change our testimony, said Bruce Brown, 18, who did not speak to the committee but submitted a witness form that showed he supported the bills.
Smith, who gave the men the cash just outside the committee hearing room, said Young Texans Against Gun Violence is an arm of his group.
The subsidiary group receives donations from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.
And the Alliance for Justice.
Those groups encourage young people to get experience in the political process, Smith said.
Yeah, right.
Reimbursing witnesses for travel expenses is not unusual, said Susie Woodford of Common Cause Texas, a group that monitors government ethics.
But she said other witnesses using cash and paying for witnesses, time raises ethical questions.
It totally undermines the witnesses' credibility, Woodford said.
I got here.
I said, how will this look?
It says, complaints about the payments began circulating after Austin-based talk show host Alex Jones, who was at the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, meeting Tuesday, aired videotape interviews with Smith and the young men.
They told Jones the money was reimbursement, stipends, and campaign contributions.
So, three different stories.
It's like the famous scene in a movie.
Where are you guys going?
What are you doing?
Going to see my mother, going to get something to eat, going to the moon.
It's just making it up.
Head of Gun Owners Alliance has asked his thousands of members to seek a house investigation of the payments and to have the hearing disregarded.
Smith said complaints are being raised because the young men are minorities.
Jones, a strong supporter of gun owners' rights, said Smith was trying to cover up his dirty activities by making accusations of racism.
He's sitting here, caught on tape, throwing out different stories and giving out money, said Jones, who mentioned the payments during his testimony against the proposal to require background checks at gun shows.
How dare he try to divert attention by saying, I'm a racist?
Committee members Rick Green, R. Dripping Springs, and Juan Hena Hosa.
McAllen said they were uneasy about taking Jones seriously because of other inflammatory comments he has made.
Hinojosa, the chairman of the committee, said that although he didn't know details about the payments, he is not concerned if the witnesses are compensated for testifying.
Hinojosa said lobbyists are compensated for their work to influence policy on behalf of other interests.
Maybe these kids were paid for their travel, but I don't see anything improper about it, Hinojosa said.
It is part of the process.
It is part of open government.
State law requires people who are paid more than $1,000 in three months or who spend more than $500 a quarter trying to influence legislation or agency action to register as lobbyists.
So you broke the state election laws, bud.
You're not a lobbyist.
We checked.
Smith said not reimbursing witnesses for lost wages would mean average Texans would be left out of legislative debates.