Texas Politicians Support Passage of New Gun Legislation that was Approved by the President

Screenshot from Twitter

On Thursday, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act passed through the U.S. Senate and was signed off by President Joe Biden on Friday.

The House gave final approval on Friday, a day after the Senate approved the bill.

This comes weeks after 19 children and two teachers were gunned down at the Uvalde school shooting in Texas.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Houston, worked hard to get votes to pass the vote in the Senate. He said in a floor speech ahead of the vote:

"While the discussion surrounding this topic causes emotions to run high, and I understand why for too long, some politicians have tried to pit the right to live in a safe community against the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. They make it seem like our country can only have one or the other."

Senator Coryn was joined by San Antonio’s Representative Tony Gonzalez to push through the passage of the vote. He was the lone Texas Republican to break from the party and support the passage of the bill.

President Biden said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Citing the families of shooting victims he has met, the president said,

“Time is of the essence. Lives will be saved. Their message to us was, ‘Do something.’ How many times did we hear that? ‘Just do something. For God’s sake, just do something.’ Today we did.”

“Today we say, ‘More than enough. It’s time, when it seems impossible to get anything done in Washington, we are doing something consequential.”

One of the Republicans who voted against the bill was fellow Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

On the Senate floor, Ted Cruz touted his own gun safety proposals dating back several years, most of which focused on securing schools.

Cruz added that the gun bill would "strip away Americans' constitutional rights."

"I think the chances that this bill will do anything meaningful, to actually prevent the next mass murder are very low," he said. "That's not what this bill is designed to do. This bill is designed, among other things, to satiate the urge to 'do something.'"

"After every one of these [mass shootings], the call comes out to 'do something. I agree, do something, but do something that works. Something that will stop these crimes."

Most of the $13 billion bill will focus on mental health programs and aid schools that were targeted in Parkland, Florida, Newton, Connecticut, and other mass shootings.

Do you support the passage of the new gun law?