Stranger danger

Even before the mass shooting in Odessa, Texas’ two highest elected officials knew that a particular background check loophole in stranger-to-stranger gun sales was dangerous.

Gun reform advocate Ed Scruggs attended a meeting called after the El Paso shooting in which he says both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick acknowledged the loophole was ripe for abuse and that it wasn’t a smart way to sell a weapon since Texans could be selling to a terrorist and not even know it.

Both seemed genuinely concerned, Scruggs told the Texas Observer, and he was encouraged.

Then, a little over a week later, that very loophole was used by a gunman who killed seven people and wounded at least 21 near Odessa. In Texas, no background check is required for private sales between individuals. So the Odessa gunman was allowed to buy an assault-style rifle from a private seller, even though he failed a background check in 2014 because of a “mental health” issue.

This revelation seemed to prompt a shift in Patrick, an ardent conservative with an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association. He broke with the gun lobby and said he was “willing to take an arrow” to support expanding Texas background checks to stranger-to-stranger sales.

“When I talk to gun owners, NRA members and voters, people don’t understand why we allow strangers to sell guns to total strangers when they have no idea if the person they’re selling the gun to could be a felon, could be someone who’s getting agun to gocommit a crime or could be a potential mass shooter or someone who has serious mental issues,” Patrick told the Dallas Morning News.

Patrick’s about-face was as surprising as it was welcome — as was his subsequent steadfastness in the face of withering criticism from the gun lobby.

Now we need other state leaders, including Abbott, to follow suit, to follow their consciences rather than their campaign contributions. To act before another mass shooting tells us what we already know: Texas gun laws leave us vulnerable to more gun violence.

We’re not talking about infringing on anyone’s Second Amendment rights or gun confiscation campaigns targeting law-abiding citizens. We’re talking about tossing out the absolutism that has kept officials from passing common sense reforms. We can’t afford to see more lives lost and more families in mourning when solutions are within reach.

Let’s start by simply closing gaps in Texas laws that expose the general public and law enforcement officials to danger.

Here’s another flaw in the background system that has gotten some attention in recent weeks: Under federal law, “fugitives from justice” are ineligible to buy guns, but a little-noticed federal rule change in 2017 limited the classification to people who cross state lines.

Now, in Texas, people with arrest warrants — including even for murder — issued in this state prior to indictment could legally pass a background check and buy a gun.

That means someone like Dalton Broesche, a Houston man wanted for threatening to stab his stepfather, was able to pass a background check and buy an AR-15 from an Austin gun store. The 23-year-old was arrested in July with a cache of weapons.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, is using that case — and what she called a “gaping hole” in the system — to amplify the need to address gun violence. She is one of 63 Democrats who signed aletter urging Abbott to call an emergency session of the Legislature.

Other states, including Massachusetts, have passed state laws closing the loophole created by the federal regulation, noted Scruggs, board president of Texas Gun Sense, which advocates stricter gun regulation.

Texas needs to follow suit. Allowing a person wanted for a crime to buy guns leaves everyone at risk — including law enforcement officers tasked with bringing suspects into custody.

“Someone should not be able to go to a gun store and stock up for when police come to take them away,” Scruggs said.

Abbott resisted calls for a special session, but he has issued recommendations for ways to keep guns out of dangerous hands, including encouraging voluntary background checks in stranger-to-stranger sales.

We need more than encouragement.

“There is a realization that it is politically unacceptable to continue to do nothing,” Hinojosa told the editorial board. “Texans are concerned about this and rightfully expect that our elected leaders will take action.”

We need to close the loopholes that put Texans in danger. We need politicians who back up their words with action.