GOP is shooting itself in the foot over its gun stance -- and it could cost the party Texas: columnist

The Republican Party's total resistance to implementing any kind of laws restricting access to guns is making it completely toxic in many suburban areas, writes Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin.

In particular, Rubin writes that the GOP's intractable stance on guns is leading it to lose its edge in Texas, which has long been a stronghold for Republican politics and which in the last month has been the site for two deadly mass shootings.

"Republicans’ collapse in the Texas suburbs -- which is a major factor in making the state competitive -- will only accelerate with its defiant attitude on any gun-safety measure," she writes. "Republicans’ intransigence in the face of the state’s second mass shooting in less than a month will only make matters worse for a party struggling to avoid alienating a key component of winning Republican coalitions in the past."

Rubin also quotes poll numbers showing that many of the proposals to reduce gun violence are overwhelmingly popular among suburban voters: "96 percent favor background checks, 62 percent favor an assault weapons ban, 82 percent favor red flag laws, and 85 percent support gun licensing."

Rubin argues that the GOP's gun policies, combined with President Donald Trump's blatantly cruel migrant family separation policies, are pushing women out of the party in droves.

"Women are already fleeing the GOP -- and the Republican Party’s reaction to gun safety is only going to increase the exodus," she concludes.

Read the whole column here.