"It was a setup": House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, gun rights activist come face-to-face at Texas GOP fundraiser

After a man angry about a "constitutional carry" bill languishing in the House visited the speaker's home, Bonnen admonished him and lawmakers said the legislation was dead. Then lingering tensions flared up when the two were seated near each other at an event.

A Texas GOP fundraiser Tuesday brought state House Speaker Dennis Bonnen face-to-face with the gun rights activist whom state troopers recently intercepted at Bonnen’s home, the latest chapter in sharp tensions between the two.

“It was a setup,” Bonnen told The Texas Tribune in an interview Wednesday evening, saying the activist, Chris McNutt, was seated close to Bonnen and appeared prepared for an encounter with him.

After a confrontation with McNutt and others in his group, Bonnen left the closed-door event early, before his scheduled speaking slot.

The incident illustrated the still-flaring tensions from a couple of weeks ago when officers with the Department of Public Safety met McNutt outside Bonnen's home while the speaker was in Austin.

The troopers had already been monitoring Bonnen's home after McNutt visited homes of other lawmakers whom he has blamed for inaction on "constitutional carry" legislation that would allow Texans to carry guns without a permit. Bonnen accused McNutt of intimidation tactics, and the revelation of the home visits dealt a death blow to the constitutional carry push at the Capitol.