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Tom Handy

16 Texas Mayors Propose Gun Legislation to Governor Abbott

2022-06-23

On Tuesday, Texas Mayors urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to propose a special session on gun reform, mental health, and school safety. The bipartisan group included 16 Texas Mayors from Austin, Houston. Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, and others.

They requested the legal age to buy an assault weapon should increase to 21 years of age and require universal background checks to buy a gun, and a red flag to alert stores about people who draw a red flag during purchase. Additionally, they requested more money should be spent on mental health programs.

After the shooting at Uvalde elementary school, Governor Abbott promised an "abundance of mental health services" to help "anyone in the community who needs it ... the totality of anyone who lives in this community."

Abbott said the services would be free.

"We just want you to ask for them," before giving out the 24/7 hotline number — 888-690-0799.

The group of mayors wrote:

“All our communities have supported our local law enforcement during these difficult times of civil unrest and pandemic-related violence. Pursuing gun policies that ease access to firearms makes the jobs of our first responders even more difficult. Families are asking us how many more shootings must happen before we act.”
“These reforms, supported by most Texans, would have prevented the shooters in El Paso and Uvalde from obtaining their weapons,” the mayors added.

In Houston, U.S. Senator John Cornyn defended his participation to reiterate that he is not supportive of or against new gun restrictions. However, the U.S. Senate framework is not against raising the age limit for gun purchases, banning assault-style weapons, or universal background checks.

These are the proposed gun-related proposals rejected:

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0dpbak_0gJ7ZX0I00
Screenshot from Twitter

Cornyn tweeted:

“These are ideas we rejected in the bipartisan agreement on principles for gun-related legislation announced yesterday. Why? Because we knew that if they were included, the bill would not command the votes needed for passage.”

According to Austin NPR, the following Texas Mayors that proposed new gun regulations include the following:

Ginger Nelson (Amarillo); Jim Ross (Arlington); Steve Adler (Austin); Paulette Guajardo (Corpus Christi); Eric Johnson (Dallas); Oscar Leeser (El Paso); Mattie Parker (Fort Worth); Ron Jensen (Grand Prairie); Sylvester Turner (Houston); Pete Saenz (Laredo); John Muns (Plano); Ron Nirenberg (San Antonio); and Sugar Joe Zimmerman (Sugar Land).

These Mayors did not sign the proposal: Scott LeMay (Garland); Rick Stopfer (Irving); and Tray Payne (Lubbock).

The current stance by the Mayors is another move in Texas politics that encourages further shake-up in the system.

Do you think Texas will change its gun legislation?

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