The toughest thing about being a paranoid armed misogynist bully with a smug sense of self-satisfaction is, it's hard to make friends. Even the gun lobby now hates the heroes of Texas Open Carry, having realized that it's hurting the cause of universal free gun love with its guns.

The National Rifle Association dumped a press statement last Friday trying to distance itself from the Lone Star State assault-weapon-totin' hooyahs who have spat on wheelchair-ridden moms, scared the bejeezus out of customers at Chipotle, Chili's and Sonic, cornered a Marine vet with their guns on the street on Memorial Day, and generally been self-important pricks—or, in the NRA's patois, "bad neighbors":

... a small number have recently crossed the line from enthusiasm to downright foolishness...

...while unlicensed open carry of long guns is also typically legal in most places, it is a rare sight to see someone sidle up next to you in line for lunch with a 7.62 rifle slung across his chest, much less a whole gaggle of folks descending on the same public venue with similar arms.

Let's not mince words, 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. It makes folks who might normally be perfectly open-minded about firearms feel uncomfortable and question the motives of pro-gun advocates....

...the freedom and goodwill these businesses had previously extended to gun owners has been curtailed because of the actions of an attention-hungry few who thought only of themselves and not of those who might be affected by their behavior. To state the obvious, that's counterproductive for the gun owning community.

Well, bully for the NRA for saying so. But that's not to say their minions in Texas are any less batshit. For though they may recognize when it's impolitic to brandish an AR-15, they also know who the ultimate enemy is: Moms and black people!

Take, for instance, this testy exchange in April between NRA board member Charles Cotton and C.J Grisham, the wildman chieftain of Open Carry Texas, who accuses the national gun lobby of aligning itself with those dirty gun-grabbing mamas:

"CJ, when you make a statement like, 'We align ourselves with Moms Who Demand Action,' or whatever the hell their name is, those are fighting words," Cotton replied with growing exasperation. "You alienate the people that can get this done."

He continued: "The New Black Panthers did exactly what you folks are doing. They marched on the convention center during the Republican convention here in Houston [with] their rifles and shotguns…No arrests were made, but the legislative response was, 'We're going to stop this.'"

But hey, maybe the clout of the NRA, one of the country's most powerful political lobbies, can convince their gun-fondling members in Tejas to moderate their behavior.

Or not:

"The more the NRA continues to divide its members by attacking some aspects of gun rights instead of supporting all gun rights, the more support it will lose," Open Carry Texas said in a statement published Monday on its Facebook page...

"Already, OCT members are posting pictures of themselves cutting up their life membership cards," the group said. "If they do not retract their disgusting and disrespectful comments, OCT will have no choice but to withdraw its full support of the NRA and establish relationships with other gun rights organizations that fight for ALL gun rights, instead of just paying them lip service the way the NRA appears to be doing."

That's secession talk! Fight the tyranny of Washington—or, at least, NRA headquarters in Fairfax. Do they know who they're talking to? The proud gun owners of Texas have a tradition of staring prudence in the eye, telling it to screw off, and getting shot in the face by it.

This time the fighting spirit will be the same, but Texas will do even better, because rough men stand ready with bolt-action rifles and Casio watches to fight for right and freedom: