Suzanna Hupp

Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp (born January 1, 1959) is a former Republican Party member of the Texas House of Representatives, who represented traditionally Democratic Party (Bell County, Texas, Burnet County, and Lampasas County, Texas) for ten years from 1997-2007. Hupp is recognized as a leading advocate for the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and an individual's right to carry a concealed weapon. She was elected to her first term in 1996 but did not seek a sixth two-year term in 2006.

Hupp was reared in Friendswood, Texas, a city partly in Harris County, Texas and Galveston County, Texas counties. She has an older brother, Allan, and a younger sister, Erika. She attended the University of Texas at El Paso and Texas Chiropractic College, from which she received the doctor of chiropractic degree in 1985. Hupp moved first to Houston, Texas to practice chiropractic and then to central Texas in 1987. She owned and operated the Cove Physical Rehab Clinic from 1987 until 2000, when she sold the facility.

Death of parents
On Wednesday, October 16, 1991, Hupp and her parents were having lunch at the Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. She had left her gun in her car to comply with Texas state law at the time which forbade carrying a concealed weapon. When George Hennard drove his truck into the cafeteria and opened fire on the patrons, Hupp instinctively reached into her purse for her weapon, but it was in her vehicle. Her father, Al Gratia, tried to rush Hennard and was shot in the chest. As the gunman reloaded, Hupp escaped through a broken window and believed that her mother, Ursula Gratia, was behind her. Hennard put a gun to her mother's head as she cradled her mortally wounded husband. Hupp's mother and father were killed along with twenty-one other persons. Hennard also wounded some twenty others. As a survivor of the "Luby's massacre", Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed-handgun laws. She said that had there been a second chance to prevent the slaughter, she would have violated the Texas law and carried the handgun inside her purse into the restaurant.

Election returns, 1996-2004
In the 1996 legislative election, the incumbent Democrat in the district, Layton Black, did not run again. Hupp defeated Democratic nominee Dick Miller, 17,620 votes (52.8 percent) to 15,757 ballots (47.2 percent). At the time, the district included Bell and Lampasas counties but also the small populated counties of McCulloch County, Texas, Mills County, Texas, and San Saba, Texas. In 1998, Hupp defeated Democrat Don Armstrong, 11,954 votes (54.8 percent) to 9,866 ballots (45.2 percent). In 2000, she again defeated Armstrong, 23,139 (62.2 percent) to  14,084 (37.8 percent). The higher turnout reflected the presidential election year. Hupp was unopposed in 2002. In 2004, Hupp defeated the Democrat Edward Lindsay of Killeen, 28,907 votes (60.9 percent) to 18,594 ballots (39.1 percent).

Hupp in the limelight
Hupp has been quoted in such publications as U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Texas Monthly, and Time (magazine) and People (magazine) magazines. She was featured on CBS's 48 Hours (TV series), American Broadcasting Company's World News with Charles Gibson and season 3 episode 9 of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!. Hupp can be heard in episode 81 of This American Life, giving a first-hand account of her experience in the Luby's massacre of Killeen, TX in 1991.

Hupp has authored a book regarding her experiences: "From Luby's to the Legislature: One Woman's Fight Against Gun Control". Now available for $22.95 from Privateer Publications, San Antonio, Texas, SuzannaHupp.com or free with paid membership from CHL Protection Plan, Dallas, Texas

Hupp was awarded the Sybil Ludington Women's Freedom Award by the National Rifle Association. In 1998, Charlton Heston honored Hupp as the first Texan awarded a lifetime NRA membership.

In the state House, Hupp was a member of the House Rural Caucus and the House Veterans and Military Affairs Caucus. In November 2003, Speaker (politics) Tom Craddick appointed Hupp as chair of the House select committee on child welfare and foster care. Craddick also named her to chair the Human Services Committee in the Seventy-ninth Texas Legislature. She also served on the House Law Enforcement Committee.

Hupp has been recognized by many Conservatism interest groups: the American Family Association, Free Market Foundation, the Texas Association of Business, the Chamber of Commerce, Texas Alliance For Life, Texas Eagle Forum, and the Young Conservatives of Texas. She was rated 100 percent pro-life by the Texas Right to Life Committee.

Hupp is quoted as having said, "How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of."

Hupp has hosted a radio talk program in the Greater Austin, Texas area. She is a co-founder of the Civil Liberties Defense Foundation, a non-profit legal foundation dedicated to providing educational information relating to the preservation of civil liberties guaranteed by the United States Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution and to providing legal services to protect those rights.

She is married to Greg Hupp, who has served as her campaign manager. They have two sons, Alexander and Ethan. The Hupps have a small Arabian horse ranch near Kempner, Texas in Lampasas County.

Election history
Hupp did not seek a sixth term in 2006.