Shared from the 8/17/2019 Houston Chronicle eEdition

Abbott: No need for guns special session

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Cara Campbell / Associated Press

Gov. Greg Abbott said at a town hall in Tyler this week there’s no evidence a red flag law would have stopped the El Paso mass shooting. He said he would not push for a special session on the issue.

AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott has signaled he won’t call the Legislature to a special session to address gun violence in the wake of the El Paso massacre, and he appears to have cooled toward “red flag” laws intended to take guns away from people believed to pose a danger to themselves or others.

In the El Paso shooting, 22 people died Aug. 3 when a gunman opened fire with an assault-type rifle on shoppers at aWalmart. Thirteen hours later, a mass shooting in an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, left 10 people dead, including the assailant.

During a town hall Thursday, Abbott said he will convene a series of round-table discussions to come up with solutions to gun violence — similar to public meetings he held after a 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston killed eight students and two teachers.

“We are not hesitating whatsoever,” the Republican governor said during Thursday’s town hall in Tyler. “It doesn’t require aspecial session for Texas to act.”

Red flag laws have gained momentum in Washington since the El Paso tragedy. President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans have spoken approvingly of expanding such laws.

Advocates, however, fear support for gun control measures — including bipartisan legislation passed by the U.S. House in February to expand background checks for gun purchasers — could wane by the time lawmakers return to Washington from their August recess next month.

Red flag laws allow a court to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns at the request of a concerned family member or law enforcement. They have gained little traction in Texas.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested recently that red flag laws face a bleak future in the state. As for Abbott, although he asked lawmakers to consider such legislation after the Santa Fe High School shooting, he seems to have cooled on the idea since then.

At Thursday’s town hall, Abbott said there’s no evidence a red flag law would have stopped the El Paso shooting, which is being investigated as domestic terrorism.

Details are still emerging about the suspected shooter, but news organizations have reported that his mother called police weeks before the massacre to express concern that he owned an assault-type rifle.

“When we start talking about passing laws, it’s important you have laws that would be able to prevent the crimes you are trying to prevent,” Abbott said.

Democrats have pressed Abbott to call a special session on gun violence after three mass shooting in Texas in less than two years. Before the El Paso and Santa Fe High School massacres, 26 people died in Sutherland Springs, about 30 miles southeast of San Antonio, when a gunman opened fire on worshipers at the First Baptist Church in November 2017.

In a response to Abbott’s remarks at the town hall, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said the state can’t wait until the next legislative session in 2021 for change. He called on both major parties to put forward a plan for red flag laws and universal background checks for firearms purchases.

“Every day that goes by, Texans are in harm’s way,” Castro said. “Change is possible if we demand it.”

Seventeen states have enacted red flag laws that let family members or law enforcement petition a court to take firearms away from people considered a threat to themselves or others, according to the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Senators open to gun reform

Trump voiced support for red flag laws after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, saying: “We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process.”

Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn have also expressed an openness to such legislation.

Earlier this month, Cornyn said such laws “are something I think we need to discuss.”

In March, Cruz said red flag legislation “can potentially be part of the solution set.”

In a statement, Cruz’s office hedged his support.

“Sen. Cruz believes red flag laws are one of the tools states can consider but that there are dangers depending on how a state structures these laws,” the statement said. “He believes that if a state does adopt a red flag law, it needs to make sure it is protecting due process and our constitutional rights. He will look closely at the legislation written by his colleagues and believes we have to do more to stop these terrible tragedies.”

House Democrats are trying to keep the pressure on. The House Judiciary Committee announced Friday it will return to Washington early to take up a series of bills on guns, including measures that would offer grants to states to create red flag laws and legislation creating procedures for obtaining “extreme risk protection orders” in federal court.

The committee, which plans to meet Sept. 4, also will consider bills banning high-capacity magazines and prohibiting those convicted of misdemeanor hate crimes from possessing firearms. The full House is expected to return the following week.

“We will not sit idly by,” U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who chairs the committee, said in a statement. “I call on my Senate colleagues to join us in this effort by swiftly passing gun safety bills the House has already passed and also by acting on the additional bills we will be considering.”

Nadler said the committee will hold ahearing later in September on assault weapons. amorris@express-news.net

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