Uvalde Shooting

Both adults and children have lost faith that law enforcement can or will protect them.

“I’m angry, and I’m not going to give up,” Nikki Cross, the mother of 10-year-old Uvalde shooting victim Uziyah, recently told a group of gun control advocates.

The families of the shooting at Robb Elementary have said that if laws around who can purchase assault weapons had been different, the shooting could have been prevented.

The bill was passed out of committee 8-5. Two Republicans, Reps. Sam Harless of Spring and Justin Holland of Rockwall, voted with Democrats on the measure.

The monument would be placed at the state Capitol complex pending approval by the Texas Legislature.

The author of a bill to raise the minimum age to buy a semiautomatic gun said he would have voted “no” to a similar bill last session. The shooting in Uvalde changed his mind.

The group called for changes to the state’s gun laws, like increasing the minimum age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon, along with the implementation of so-called “red flag” laws.

Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.

The families are pushing for a series of bills that range from ending qualified immunity to changing age limits to purchase a semi-automatic rifle. The group also wants to be able to sue the state over the botched police response.

The Republican governor will serve his term with an expanded Republican majority in the Texas House and Senate, making it unlikely that his priorities will face significant roadblocks.