After Santa Fe shooting, Greg Abbott calls for new gun laws ‘to make sure this tragedy is never repeated’ – By Lauren McGaughy (dallasnews.com) / May 18 2018
AUSTIN — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, speaking hours after the school shooting that left at least 10 people dead Friday, said he wants new guns laws “to make sure this tragedy is never repeated.”
“We need to do more than just to pray for the victims and their families,” Abbott, a Republican, said during a press conference near Santa Fe High School on Friday afternoon. The governor will begin holding roundtable discussions next week with “stakeholders to begin to work immediately on swift solutions to prevent tragedies like these from ever happening again.”
Abbott said he’d been planning to roll out several proposals for new gun laws in Texas before the shooting, including “speeding up background checks” and keeping guns out of hands of those “who pose immediate danger.” He also praised the mental health screening and preparedness protocols for students implemented at Lubbock Independent School District.
Abbott hopes the round table discussions will involve state lawmakers, educators, Second Amendment advocates and the victims and families of shootings, perhaps including survivors of the November massacre at the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs.
“I ask every parent out there, wherever you may be, to hold your children close tonight and let them know you love them,” Abbott added, calling Friday’s shooting “what has to be the worst disaster to ever strike this community.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also a Republican, said, “We have to look at the design of our schools moving forward and retrofitting schools that are already built. And what I mean by that is there are too many entrances and too many exits to our over 8,000 campuses in Texas.”
“There aren’t enough people to put a guard at every entrance and exit,” Patrick added. “But if we can protect a large office building or a courthouse or any major facility, maybe we need to look at limiting the entrance and exits into our schools so that we can have law enforcement looking at people who come in one or two entrances.”
“Had there been one single entrance, possibly, for every student, maybe (the shooter) would have been stopped.”
Patrick also said schools should perhaps think about staggering their start times, and implored parents with firearms to “lock your guns safely away.”
Minors can legally possess firearms in Texas if given permission by a parent or guardian. Abbott said the shotgun and handgun used in Friday’s attack belonged to the alleged shooter’s father, but it was unclear whether the adult was aware the weapons were in his son’s possession.
‘Thoughts and prayers’
Earlier this month at the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas, Abbott praised Stephen Willeford, the NRA member who shot the Sutherland Springs killer, and said gun violence was due to a lack of faith in everyday American life.
“The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God,” Abbott said at the time, according to The Texas Observer.
Democrats who had long been calling for stricter gun laws in the state welcomed the governor’s calls for talks on the issue.
Arlington Rep. Chris Turner, chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said “we’ve been ready to have it for a long time,” and asked state leaders to “act immediately” to implement universal background checks, a database for stolen firearms and implementing a campaign to promote the safe storage of guns.
Abbott’s response came after Democrats with eyes on his job called Friday for a renewed discussion on the state’s gun laws.
“Thoughts and prayers don’t replace the need for a plan,” Andrew White, a Houston businessman running for governor, said in a statement within hours of the Santa Fe shooting. White’s opponent, former Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez, also issued a statement saying “enough is enough.”
“Our children are literally marching in the streets, demanding that we, the adults, make the change to keep them safe,” Valdez said. “We will act to make change. There is no other option.”
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings had a more pointed message for Congress and President Donald Trump: “Spare us your thoughts and prayers and do your job.”
‘A top priority…in 2019’
There have been at least three shootings in Texas with at least five deaths since Nov. 5, when Devin Patrick Kelley killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs before turning his weapon on himself. Last week, a father of three killed his children and his estranged wife’s boyfriend in a murder-suicide that rocked the small North Texas town of Ponder.
But restricting access to guns is rarely a serious topic for discussion in Texas. In the last few years, the state Legislature has approved “campus carry” legislation allowing concealed weapons to be carried at colleges and universities and legalized the open carry of handguns by licensed firearms owners.
Texas allows churches to have armed guards and lets educators carry guns on campus if they go through training to become school marshals, efforts that Trump has applauded.
Also, since 2005 the state has required public schools and community colleges to have emergency plans that include responding to both human and natural disaster threats. School employees must be trained in responses and schools must have related safety drills and safety audits must be done at least every three years.
After the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that left 17 dead, Abbott called on schools to ensure they were in compliance with the safety drill law. Santa Fe High School had completed a live shooter drill in the days before Friday’s attack.
There has also been little agreement between the parties — and a fair amount of infighting even among like-minded politicians — on how to respond to these kind of mass casualty events.
Democrats have said it’s not useful for Republicans to offer “thoughts and prayers” without legislative action to curb gun violence. They have proposed raising the legal age of gun ownership or outlawing certain accessories, like the bump stocks used in the Las Vegas shooting. Republicans, meanwhile, have accused the other side of politicizing tragedy and called for arming teachers.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, has pushed legislation to reauthorize Justice Department grants meant to improve school security and has long emphasized a focus on mental illness. After the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs last fall — which Kelley carried out despite an Air Force court martial and family violence convictions — Cornyn spearheaded a push that would penalize federal agencies for failing to report criminal incidents to the database.
But Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who faces Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke this year, has distanced himself from Cornyn’s background check bill, claiming legislation he unsuccessfully pushed in 2013 could have prevented both the Sutherland Springs and Parkland shooting.
And in the state Legislature, Republicans have argued over how to remove restrictions, including whether to axe requirements that handgun owners have a license to carry. When lawmakers meet again next year, outgoing House Speaker Joe Straus said Friday he hopes “the safety of our school campuses will be a top priority.”
