Uvalde Households Again at Texas Capitol as Gun Payments Languish

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — For the primary time since the Uvalde school shooting, Texas Republican lawmakers on Tuesday allowed proposals for stricter gun legal guidelines to get a listening to within the state Capitol — the place any new restrictions have little probability of passing.

Almost a 12 months after a gunman killed 19 youngsters and two academics at Robb Elementary Faculty, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and GOP leaders haven’t softened their opposition to harder gun legal guidelines in Texas. The anniversary of the capturing is Might 24.

Subsequent month, the Texas Legislature is scheduled to adjourn after a session by which dozens of proposals filed by Democrats to tighten gun laws have languished, together with payments that will increase the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 and add reporting necessities through the sale of a number of firearms.

That made Tuesday’s listening to the primary and doubtlessly solely probability for some Uvalde households to straight plead their case, despite the fact that they know the proposals are unlikely to advance.

“We’ve been right here for the struggle, we aren’t going away,” stated Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old nephew, Uziyah, was among the many youngsters killed within the assault. “They should know that it’s a lot simpler for them from their place than it’s having to struggle when your youngsters are useless.”

The listening to in Texas comes weeks after a gunman carrying a rifle opened hearth in a non-public elementary faculty in Tennessee, killing three youngsters and three adults.

In response, Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee, a Republican, signed an government order final week strengthening background checks for gun purchases. Lee has also urged the GOP-controlled statehouse to move laws that will take away firearms from individuals who could possibly be a risk to themselves or others.

For years in Texas, Republicans have waved apart efforts to tighten gun legal guidelines after mass shootings, and even expanded gun rights after the 2019 assault on a Walmart in El Paso.

After the Uvalde capturing, Abbott advised victims’ households he wouldn’t assist their requires gun security laws, and he urged that elevating the age to personal an assault weapon could be unconstitutional. Texas Home Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, later stated proposals to lift the minimal required age for sure firearms and different gun measures didn’t have the votes to move.

Republicans have as a substitute centered on further psychological well being providers in Texas and rising faculty safety.

Nonetheless, household and pals of Uvalde victims have returned to the Texas Capitol on a number of events to protest and meet with lawmakers. They’ve additionally known as for extra police accountability after tons of of regulation enforcement officers on the scene waited more than an hour to breach the fourth-grade classroom and confront the shooter.

“It’s a actually robust factor to move gun security legal guidelines in Texas,” stated Democrat state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, a sponsor of a few of the restrictions. “However I believe we are able to’t simply throw up our fingers and say it’s not going to move.”

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