Texas gun reform legislation shows little movement in week after Allen, nearing Uvalde anniversary

DALLAS — For months, the Texas Capitol has been filled with advocates and protesters chanting and begging for stricter gun laws. A week after a mass shooting at Allen Premium Outlets that took eight lives and nearing one year since the Robb Elementary School shooting that killed 19 students and two teachers in Uvalde, little has changed. On Monday, a group of around 60 Collin County parents will head to Austin in hopes to changes minds and create action.

“They are hurting their own constituents. They are hurting their own community,” Hind Jarrah, who’s part of the group, said. “We respect the individual right to bear arms but there should be regulation.

” The group, Collin County Parents Against Gun Violence, has meetings scheduled throughout the afternoon with lawmakers including Sen. Angela Paxton (R–McKinney) and Rep. Jeff Leach (R–Plano) “If they’re not supporting and listening to us then maybe we need people who will listen to us,” Ann Bacchus, who helped organize the trip, said.

Leach, who lives just one mile from the outlet mall, told Inside Texas Politics he believes there are actions the legislature can still take. “I don’t have any bill in front of me that could’ve prevented this,” Leach said. “But I’m open to any and all solutions.

” Leach touted a mental health bill he’s authored but didn’t provide specifics on any legislation that would restrict access to guns. “It’s just one step of many that we should consider here to go a long way to keeping guns out of the hands of people who wish to do harm, who want to break our laws, who want to inflict mass violence,” Leach said. Officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety said the Allen shooter had eight guns with him at the time of the shooting and added they were all purchased legally, but did not share how they were bought, when they were bought and the total number of guns the shooter owned, as well as the types of weapons.

Recent polling found 78% of Texans support universal background checks, 66% are behind red flag laws, which advocates say may have prevented both the Sutherland Springs mass shooting and Uvalde, and 76% of Texans support raising the age to buy a gun to 21. This legislative session, lawmakers have proposed bills that would enhance background checks and expand safe storage requirements but neither made it out of committees and will almost certainly not be voted on. After emotional testimony from the parents of children killed in Uvalde, a bill that would raise the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21 made it out of committee with two Republicans voting in favor, but the bill wasn’t placed on the House calendar in time to get a vote meaning it was effectively killed, ending hope for the families’ priority change.

According to reporting from the Texas Tribune, the legislature has passed more than 100 bills since 2000 that have loosened gun restrictions. Rep. Frederick Frazier (R–McKinney) shopped at the outlets an hour before the shooting and earlier this week said he’s also open to change .

“We want citizens to protect themselves, but we also don’t want maniacs who have pure evil in their heart to go out there and kill our families,” Frazier said. Frazier has been championing a bill that would mirror an existing federal law banning the possession or manufacturing of “Glock switches,” which effectively turn guns into automatic weapons. “I’m a Republican through and true but this needs to be where we come together and figure out how to fix this,” Frazier said.

With little time left, though, there’s little hope the begging and chanting will help. “We all recognize that the status quo cannot go on,” Jarrah said. .