Austin.- The unusual momentum in the Texas Capitol that had won a tougher firearms bill fizzled out Wednesday after Republicans halted a move to raise the age of purchase for AR-style rifles, all but guaranteeing the legislature would not will issue no major restrictions on access to firearms despite new shooting massacres in the state.
The measure — which never had much of a chance of success — now has little chance of being resurrected after it came close to a vote on the floor of the state House of Representatives, forcing the swift intervention of lobbyists in the state. firearms industry in the state.
The unusual advance in Texas of a proposal to restrict firearms rocked the Capitol on Monday, two days after a gunman killed eight people in a suburban Dallas shopping center with an AR-type rifle.
But Tuesday night, House Republicans allowed a deadline to expire, stalling progress on the bill.
“The Uvalde families did not fail. Texas politicians did,” tweeted Kimberly Mata Rubio, whose 10-year-old daughter Lexi was one of 19 children and two teachers shot to death nearly a year ago at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The deadline to take the initiative to a vote in the plenary session of the lower house passed by while protesters shouted slogans outside the compound. One of them was Brett Cross, who had been in charge of his 10-year-old nephew Uziyah Garcia until the fourth grader became one of the victims of the Uvalde massacre. A video posted on social media shows four Texas Department of Public Safety police officers removing Cross from the Capitol during the protest.
Cross said the cops took him out of the Capitol for yelling. Officials with the Department of Public Safety have not responded to a request for comment on the incident. Democratic state representative James Talarico expressed concern about what happened and planned to seek more information.
The failure of the initiative was not unexpected. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has long rejected calls to toughen gun laws following mass shootings in the state. He did it again this week after Saturday’s massacre in Allen, Texas.
Two Republicans surprisingly helped advance a proposal that would have increased the legal age to purchase semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21. For gun control advocates in Texas, that was practically a milestone.
But gun rights groups — rarely forced to take a defensive stance on Capitol Hill in Texas — moved quickly to stave off any momentum for gun control supporters.
Texas Gun Rights, one of the most active groups, was supported by Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three people during a protest in Wisconsin in 2020 and was later cleared of murder.
What happened makes clear how any attempt to toughen firearms laws in Texas is not up for discussion in the state legislature, which has facilitated access to firearms in recent years after other massacres, and not shows intention to change his mind. This includes Abbott, who, after the Allen shooting, pointed to mental health as the cause of the problem.
One of the Republicans who voted in favor of the aforementioned bill was state Rep. Sam Harless, who represents a heavily Republican-leaning suburb near Houston. He said that he did not receive any pressure from his colleagues for his decision.
“I voted with my heart and possibly my constituents are not pro-gun groups,” Harless said.
Another Republican, state Rep. Justin Holland, also joined Democrats on the Select Committee on Community Safety in pushing the measure forward by an 8-5 vote.
In a statement defending his vote, Holland said: “I don’t believe in gun control.” He noted that he previously voted for Texas to withdraw training and background checks to carry a gun.
He said testimony before the commission convinced him that a law raising the age of purchase could be a “significant barrier” to a youth buying certain semi-automatic weapons and causing harm.
