She recently testified before the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs about the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston prohibiting firearms in most of their buildings. She also regularly appears on the NRA News program Cam and Company. We believe her story and her activism are noteworthy. Check out our interview with her below!
GH: Tell our readers who you are. Why are you conservative/libertarian?
AO: I can honestly say that I wear quite a few hats, but to be concise, I am an aspiring law student and the Southwest Regional Director for Students for Concealed Carry and locally, I am the precinct chair for my local county’s Republican party. I am a conservative, or rather a “conservatarian” because I believe that a limited government allows individuals to be the most free and live a life of freedom, happiness and prosperity. I actually voted for Obama in 2008 and more reluctantly so, in 2012. The ever increasing debt of this country and the ever expanding role of government in my life, changed my mind after 2012. It was shortly after that I realized that I am not only a Republican, but a conservative. Because fiscal issues and gun rights issues are very important to me, I believe getting more involved with the “liberty movement” was a natural progression. Less government, more freedom is a mantra that I hold dear to me, daily.
GH: Discuss your role with Students for Concealed Carry. What role do you have? Why is it important to promote greater gun rights today?
AO: I have been blessed to be a spokeswoman for Students for Concealed Carry for almost 7 months now. In this role, I write press releases and engage in media interviews in relation to campus carry in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. I have had my hands full with Texas since I began the role. But being a native Texan and a student, this fight is definitely personal to me in every way. I recently just go back from Austin to testify in front of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee. Although the “campus carry” bill, SB 11, has passed, there is still a lot of work to do and battles to be won. Right now, the battle to win public opinion can be just as daunting as the battle won last year during the legislative session. I hope to help spin the narrative to show that gun rights are for EVERYONE–white, black, man or woman, student, or professor. They are rights protected by the US Constitution that have no boundaries.
GH: What advice do you have for our peers who are interested in getting involved in politics?
AO: My advice to my peers that want to get involved in politics is the same advice for anyone who wants to get more involved with anything in life really: show up. Showing up is 90% of the work in politics, if you are passionate or concerned about an issue, of course. If you do not show up and do something about it, then there is this annoying habit of eventually following into the trap of complacency and worse, apathy. I have learned from the great Morton Blackwell of the Leadership Institute that the narrative of today’s youth being mostly liberal is false, but rather they are mostly apathetic. I feel it is my job to get people motivated, excited and active. Those people are the ones that change the world.
To keep up with Antonia, connect with her on Twitter and follow the work of Students for Concealed Carry!
More of Gabriella’s articles ranging far beyond the 2nd Amendment can be seen at her home site: thegabriellahoffman.com
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