AUSTIN, Texas – What has for years been a solid wall of Texas Republicans’ opposition to gun control showed small signs of cracking Monday as a bipartisan committee of the State Legislature voted to advance a bill raising the minimum age to purchase AR-15-style rifles.
The preliminary vote in a Republican-controlled State Capitol was unusual, not least because it was so unexpected: At the start of the day, the 13-member committee was never scheduled to meet.
But the killing of eight people, including several children, at a shopping center in Allen, Texas, on Saturday brought an unexpected raw and emotional force to the Legislature. The shooting, by a man with an AR-15-style rifle, came more than a week after five people were killed by their neighbor with an AR-15-style rifle at a home north of Houston, and just shy of a year. after 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle in Uvalde, Texas.
“It was the most emotional vote I’ve ever taken, and I started crying after I did,” said State Representative Sam Harless, a Republican from the Houston area who voted to advance the bill to the House floor. “That means my heart tells me I made the right vote.”
The bill, which would raise the age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle from 18 to 21, still needs to be considered by the entire Texas House, with deadlines to do so approaching this week. Even if it passes — still an unlikely prospect — it will face almost certain rejection in the State Senate, where the hard-right lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, has strong control.
Texas Republican leaders have long opposed gun control measures and in recent legislative sessions have eased rules around firearms, including passing a law in 2021 that would allow the adults to carry handguns without a permit.
But on a day of screaming and crying at the Texas Capitol after the latest mass shooting, the vote signaled that the relentless streak of mass killings that has plagued the state in recent years is having an impact. of legislators, even if less. Since the start of 2021 in Texas, there have been more than a dozen mass killings of four or more people.
“The change of heart and the change of face in this vote today was no accident,” said Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “It’s a reflection of the pressure that built this building and just hit a tipping point” after Saturday’s killings.
Some state House Republicans on Monday spoke privately about a new “openness” to the bill raising the age for purchasing semiautomatic rifles, which appears set to languish in committee despite relentless lobbying in favor of the measure by the relatives of the murdered children. in Uvalde.
But only a handful of Republican lawmakers ultimately voted to advance the bill. Those who voted against the bill did so without comment.
In condemning Saturday’s shooting, Republicans did not address the availability of guns, instead focusing on the gunman’s mental health. Governor Greg Abbott declined when asked during a press conference on Monday what could be done to get guns out of the hands of potential mass shooters. He has previously said that age restrictions on the purchase of firearms by adults are likely to be found unconstitutional.
Representative Keith Self, a Republican member of Congress from the Allen area, said earlier, in an interview with CNN, that those who doubt the effectiveness of offering prayers in response to a mass shooting “don’t believe in an almighty God who is in complete control of our lives.”
Although there are some signs of a gradual shift on the issue, Texas Republican primary voters continue to overwhelmingly support legal access to firearms with limited restrictions, and most of Elected officials in Texas are increasingly afraid of a primary challenge by a more ardent supporter of. gun rights rather than from a general election fight with Democrats.
Last year’s convincing defeat of Mr. Abbott’s Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic congressman closely associated with greater gun regulation, has inspired little appetite among Republican lawmakers for new legislation. The election took place after the Uvalde massacre.
However, Democrats and gun control advocates have for months pushed hard for legislation to raise the purchase age, known as House Bill 2744. The Allen shooting has sparked new outrage and new determination.
As the day began Monday, more than a hundred protesters lined the halls and steps leading to the House chamber, and their chants of “Raise the age!” echoed throughout the soaring rotunda. The lobbyists and legislators said that they do not remember that animated showing of gun control supporters in the Capitol.
At the other end of the hall, Democratic representatives and state senators, some wearing black mourning symbols for the victims of Saturday’s shooting, held a news conference surrounded by relatives of the victims. child killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, images of their dead children peek out from photos and T-shirts. Some say they have traveled to Austin almost every week since the legislative session began.
“I will not come and ask you to return my child,” said Nikki Cross, the aunt and legal guardian of Uziyah Garcia, who was killed in Uvalde. “The one small, very simple question we have is raising the age limit to buy assault-style weapons,” he said, speaking through tears.
The law should not have caused the shooting in Allen, where the gunman was 33 years old. But maybe delayed or prevented the gunman in Uvalde from getting his weapons; he waited until his 18th birthday and legally purchased a pair of AR-15-style weapons soon after, and then used one of them inside the school.
As proceedings began Monday, Democrats and Republicans gathered in front of the House around Jeff Leach, a six-term Republican representative from Allen who said he didn’t know what else to do. he will serve.
“I’m finding more and more freedom to speak my mind,” he says, his voice cracking at one point. “So I have something to say this morning. There’s a lot we don’t know, but one thing I do know is that it happens a lot, and it doesn’t have to be this way.
He stopped short of endorsing any particular measure but said the House should consider “all potential solutions.”
After Saturday’s shooting, many Democrats began to think and discuss ways to possibly force a vote on the House floor, expecting the bill to never clear the House Select Committee on Community, where it stalled. .
Many members planned to discuss the matter publicly when Mr. Leech will finish speaking. Republican leaders learned of the impending parliamentary move on Monday morning, according to several people with knowledge of the proceedings. In an apparent effort to avoid a public fight over guns, they instead rushed to convene an unscheduled committee meeting to consider House Bill 2744.
The bill passed, 8 to 5, with two Republicans voting for it, including Mr. Harless and Representative Justin Holland, who represent parts of Collin County, where Allen is located.
The bill will not immediately come before the full House. It must first be put on the calendar, and there is little time left. The last day for the House to pass its own bills is Thursday, though some Democrats believe they have other ways to force a vote before the legislative session ends in May. 29.
After the committee’s vote Monday, cheers erupted from the room, which was packed with Uvalde’s relatives and gun control advocates. Many hugged and cried.
“I have children and I have a granddaughter, and I have grade schools in my area,” said Mr. Harless in an interview. “I want to know when I go home at night I’m doing everything I can to keep the kids I represent safe.”
Asked about his Republican colleagues, he said his constituents are different from those in many rural areas. He said he could not predict whether the bill would ultimately pass.
“We’ll have to wait and see, but this is a big step forward,” he said. “We just have to make sure we do everything we can to stop some of the senseless shootings that are going on.”