Updated at 12:45 p.m., Sept. 7, 2019: to include U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz's declining to discuss Patrick's background-check proposal.

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he's "willing to take an arrow" and defy the National Rifle Association by pressing Texas to close one loophole in gun-purchaser background checks.

On Friday, Patrick said it's "common sense" to tighten background-check laws because in many instances, stranger-to-stranger sales now are exempt from the requirement that buyers be vetted through a federal database of people not eligible to purchase firearms.

Patrick wants to protect transfers among family members from triggering a check. He'd also continue to exempt friends, though he acknowledged that could be abused. Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, said he's willing to accede to the preferences of senators on whether to maintain that loophole — and if so, exactly how.

But he said Texas must strongly discourage selling guns to strangers without a background check.

"That gap of stranger to stranger we have to close, in my view," Patrick, a staunchly conservative Republican and avid gun-rights advocate, said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.

"When I talk to gun owners, NRA members and voters, people don't understand why we allow strangers to sell guns to total strangers when they have no idea if the person they're selling the gun to could be a felon, could be someone who's getting a gun to go commit a crime or could be a potential mass shooter or someone who has serious mental issues."

"Look, I'm a solid NRA guy," he said, "but not expanding the background check to eliminate the stranger to stranger sale makes no sense to me and ... most folks."

The NRA responded soon after, calling Patrick's proposals "political gambits" that would "resurrect the same broken, Bloomberg-funded failures that were attempted under the Obama administration."

"Criminalizing private firearm transfers would require a massive, governmental gun registration scheme. Instead of trampling the freedom of law-abiding Americans, the government should focus upon actual solutions: fixing our broken mental health system, prosecuting known criminals and enforcing the existing gun laws that require follow-up whenever a prohibited person tries to buy a firearm," the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, its lobbying arm, said in a statement.

On Saturday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a strong NRA supporter, ducked questions about Patrick's stand.

"I'll let the state officials focus on state policy," Cruz said after speaking at the Texas Faith, Family & Freedom Forum, a gathering of social conservatives in Austin. "I'm going to let Dan speak for himself."

Since mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa, Patrick has talked of wanting to require background checks of private purchasers who are strangers. In multiple interviews with Fox News and in-state conservative talk radio hosts, he has said they account for as much of 10% of all gun sales — and are the likeliest method for criminals to obtain guns.

On Friday, he issued an emphatic warning to fellow Republicans: To survive and avert Democratic takeovers in Austin and Washington, they must act expeditiously on measures to reduce gun violence.

"Someone in the Republican Party has to take the lead on this," he said.

Staving off the day

President Donald Trump is likely to win re-election next year, asserted Patrick, a Trump supporter.

But "one day, [Democrats] could have the White House again, and they could have Congress, and they will pass draconian laws that dramatically impact our Second Amendment rights," he said. "And if Republicans do some common sense things, that helps us stave off that day."

The Texas Democratic Party said Patrick's past actions cast doubt on his Friday statements.

"Dan Patrick can say what he wants now, but the fact of the matter is that his racist rhetoric was echoed directly by the El Paso shooter before the shooting," party spokesman Abdi Rahman said in a text. "Directly after the shooting, Patrick blamed video games and a 'lack of God' for the shooting instead of guns. Actions speak louder than words. Where's Patrick's plan and commitment to eradicate white supremacist language from his own discourse and his party's? Nothing changes until Patrick's rhetoric changes."

But Texas gun control advocate Ed Scruggs said he welcomes Patrick's stand.

"One thing you could never accuse Dan Patrick of is not being politically aware, he sees what's going on across the state," said Scruggs, president of the board of Texas Gun Sense. Among other things, the group supports curbs on "high lethality" firearms such as assault rifles.

"People are waking up and they're starting to ask questions and saying, 'OK, y'all have been in power now for the last 20 years. What have you done to prevent this and what are you going to do now?'" Scruggs said. Patrick "does see the writing on the wall, that they have to do something. ... Any talk about closing background check loopholes is positive."

Scruggs and Patrick are members of a Texas Safety Commission that Gov. Greg Abbott appointed after the El Paso massacre that killed 22 people and injured 24 others.

On Thursday, Abbott issued executive orders designed to close "information gaps" in the reporting and analysis of suspicious activities. The Republican governor also said "legislative solutions are still needed." An Abbott spokesman has indicated the governor could make some bill proposals soon.

Most Democrats in the Legislature are pressing Abbott to call a special session on gun violence prevention. Abbott has urged some Democrats to soften their recent rhetoric, which he dubs overblown. He appears not to have made a final decision on whether a special session could be productive and brief, especially as the 2020 election looms.

On Friday, Patrick dodged questions about whether Abbott will call a special session and the prospects for Senate passage of gun-violence measures, including his suggested change on stranger-to-stranger gun sales.

"I want to protect the family and the friend transfer," he said of existing private sales that are exempt from background checks. "If other members have a different idea, then I will follow the will of the Senate."

'Not a big deal'

Patrick said he's spoken with gun store owners. They reportedly said they'd be happy to assist private sellers, by arranging for them to meet prospective buyers at their stores. The owners would run the buyers through the National Instant Background Check System.

"It takes a minute," Patrick said. "It's not a big deal."

Patrick said he understands the concerns some gun-rights activists have about allowing any change in current gun laws.

They rightly fear that national Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden and former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke would push for assault weapon buy-backs, which amounts to confiscation, he said.

"There's no such thing as a buy-back program because you can't buy back something you don't own," he said. "I see that as confiscation." Patrick said he also opposes a national gun registry.

Still, Patrick underscored that he's ready, despite past support for and from the NRA, to call the group out when he thinks it's wrong. In recent weeks, its president Wayne LaPierre reportedly told Trump that background checks must be off the table as leaders grope for ways to reduce mass shootings.

Last year, Patrick received 100% ratings from the NRA and its Texas affiliate, the Texas State Rifle Association. He's received $11,000 from the groups during his time in office, just less than Abbott's $13,700. The NRA and TSRA have contributed more than $1.4 million to political campaigns in Texas since 2000, according to financial disclosures.

Earlier, as a state senator, the two groups rated him in the low to mid-90s, according to votesmart.org. But in 2015, his first session as lieutenant governor, Patrick drew barbs from some gun-rights activists after he said there weren't the votes to pass a law allowing for unlicensed open carry of handguns. Patrick stressed he was just giving an honest assessment that allowing open carry of handguns had weak chances of passing.

Thinly veiled warning?

Patrick compared the NRA's hard-line resistance on background checks to what he called the intransigence of local governments in Texas on property taxes in recent years. He noted cities and counties suffered a defeat this year, which he said they could have averted by accepting a compromise revenue-cap proposal more to their liking in the 2017 session.

"When you're not willing to yield on anything that's common sense, you risk losing everything," he said. "When you're not reasonable in your position, you risk losing a lot more."

Fixing the background-check loophole is only one measure needed, Patrick said.

He said he also supports improving law enforcement's handling of tips about suspicious activities; providing 24/7 staffing at regional law enforcement "fusion centers," such as one in Collin County; and imposing tighter reporting requirements on social media platforms, when users threaten or discuss violence.

Taking all those steps, he said, can make Texas "the model for the country" in trying to prevent mass shootings.

However, Texans shouldn't delude themselves that they'll stop all killers, he cautioned. People will continue to do evil things, he said.

But with the changes under discussion, Patrick said the call by the El Paso shooter's mother to Allen police, expressing concern about his rifle purchase, might been "run up the line." That might have triggered further investigation, which might have led to an Amber alert, Patrick said. Potentially, law enforcement then could've stopped the young man while he was driving from North Texas to El Paso, he said.

Data reporter Ariana Giorgi and Austin correspondent Lauren McGaughy contributed to this report.