Texas Senate Democrats push for special session on gun control
AUSTIN, Texas - It was shortly after the Uvalde shooting that Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez visited the city.
"I’ve seen seven little girls in coffins. One, I could not see because her coffin was closed and you can only imagine why," he said.
The shooting sprung the Democrats into action. The state Democratic caucus is demanding the governor to call a special session on gun control and safety measures.
"He can do all the round tables and recommendations he wants, he can talk about school safety all he wants, but we don’t ever get to do anything without a legislative special session called on a date certain for 30 days," said Gutierrez.
In their proposed bill, they are asking for four key items.
"Raise the age limit to 21. This kid walked into a store like it was 7-11 buying a Slurpee, and walked out with a machine gun," said Gutierrez.
The second item, adding red flags laws. Democrats also want to tighten background checks and close the gun show loophole.
"The last thing we are asking for is a cooling off period for certain guns, 72 hours," said Gutierrez.
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Governor Greg Abbott addressed this topic earlier in the month, and believes mental health should be the priority.
"Anyone who suggests, well maybe we should focus on background checks as opposed to mental health, I suggest to you is mistaken," Abbott said on May 27.
The Democrats believe this is common sense gun legislation that should have been addressed in prior sessions.
"Every single one of the provisions in the law we are proposing helps ensure that stable law abiding adults are the only ones with possession of weapons in Texas," said Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, (D) Austin.
"We are 56 days away from the school year starting. We must take action to ensure that another group of parents are not planning funerals," said Sen. Carol Alvarado, (D) Houston.