The National Rifle Association, an organization known for its relentless and aggressive pursuit of gun rights, has astounded observers by making a very unusual attack on its own people – fellow campaigners for the unfettered right to carry arms.



The NRA has incurred the wrath of radical gun rights advocates in Texas by accusing them of adopting tactics that are so extreme they come across as “scary” and “weird”. In a statement posted on the website of its policy arm, NRA-ILA, the country’s leading gun rights group slams Open Carry Texas members for their recent stunts in which they walk into commercial premises such as restaurants and cafes visibly bearing rifles and shotguns.

“Let's not mince words,” the NRA said, “not only is it rare, it's downright weird and certainly not a practical way to go normally about your business while being prepared to defend yourself. To those who are not acquainted with the dubious practice of using public displays of firearms as a means to draw attention to oneself or one's cause, it can be downright scary.”

Open Carry Texas has responded scathingly. On Twitter, the group accused the NRA of having “lost its relevance and sided with gun control extremists”.

In a longer statement on Facebook, Open Carry Texas described the NRA’s criticisms as “disgusting and disrespectful” and said its members were tearing up their NRA membership cards.

The rare eruption of public in-fighting within the gun rights movement signalled the jitters that Open Carry Texas has caused as a result of the group’s controversial campaign. Open Carry members have walked into outlets such as Chili’s and Sonic with rifles slung over their shoulders, in an act of provocation designed to draw attention to the on-going ban in Texas on openly carrying handguns (concealed handguns can be carried in Texas but only with a license).

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Open Carry Texas members protest in a Chili's restaurant.

In the most recent action, about 150 members of Open Carry Texas rallied outside a Home Depot store on Saturday.

The outbreak of in-fighting within the gun rights world suggests unease on the part of the NRA towards the growing strength of the gun control movement under its new umbrella campaign Everytown. The group, which already has 1.5 million members and plans to add a further million this year, has had recent successes at local level, not least in its opposition to the open carry spectacle in Texas.

Using social media to spread the word, Everytown has persuaded a string of major chains – in addition to Chili’s and Sonic, Starbucks, Wendy’s, Jack In The Box, Applebees and Chipotle – to impose tighter policies requesting that gun owners do not carry their rifles into their premises.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Demonstrators take part in a protest for Open Carry. Photograph: Tony Gutierrez/AP

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America that is now part of Everytown, said that the NRA attack on the Texas open carry campaign was “extraordinary. This hasn’t happened before – that extremists have pushed the NRA so far that they’ve had to weigh in against them.”

Watts said that there were signs of what she called a “new softening” in NRA attitudes, not just towards the contentious tactics being displayed in Texas. She pointed out that in the past year five states have passed legislation designed to keep guns out of the hands of perpetrators of domestic violence, and for the first time the NRA had remained silent on the issue having previously opposed such reforms.

“We welcome the NRA’s support and hope they will work with us to find common sense solutions,” Watts told the Guardian.