Many bills that would limit access to firearms or ammunition likely won’t become law anytime soon. But people who advocate at the Texas Capitol see emerging signs that there’s appetite for finding some middle ground.
Guns in Texas
Many Texans — and their elected leaders — are fiercely protective of the constitutional right to own guns. The state is a leader in firearm sales even though the rate of Texans who own guns has declined. While mass shootings repeatedly renew calls for some gun restrictions, Texas lawmakers have continuously made it easier to access guns. Meanwhile, the number of people who die from gunshots in Texas has reached a level not seen since the 1990s.
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Guns in Texas
Texas Senate approves bill that would create mandatory prison or probation terms for some gun crimes
Sen. Joan Huffman said the bill was in response to increased violent crime since 2019. Legislative researchers could not determine how the bill would affect the state’s prison population.
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Guns in Texas
Sutherland Springs shooting victims reach tentative $144.5 million settlement with U.S. government
The U.S. Department of Justice also agreed to drop its appeal of a lawsuit in which a judge found the military mostly at fault for the 2017 mass shooting at a church.
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Uvalde school shooting
“He has a battle rifle”: Police feared Uvalde gunman’s AR-15
In previously unreleased interviews, police who responded to the Robb Elementary shooting told investigators they were cowed by the shooter’s military-style rifle. This drove their decision to wait for a Border Patrol SWAT team to engage him, which took more than an hour.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas bill requiring 10-year prison sentences for gun felonies faces opposition from criminal justice and firearm advocates
Under Senate Bill 23, all felonies involving a gun would incur a mandatory 10-year prison sentence. It’s meant to curb crime, despite the lack of correlation between harsher sentences and crime rates.
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Texas Legislature 2023
Texas Senate passes first bill this session, a bipartisan effort to close teen gun loophole
In its first bill passed this session, the Texas Senate sought to ensure juvenile mental health hospitalizations are reported to the federal firearm background check system.
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Guns in Texas
Texas superintendent resigns after student finds his gun in school bathroom
The incident comes as lawmakers debate how to make schools safer after the Uvalde massacre and favor measures like arming more educators.
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The Texas Tribune-ProPublica Investigative Unit
Gov. Greg Abbott says most gun crimes involve illegally owned weapons. That’s not true in mass shootings.
Most of the state’s 19 mass shootings over the past six decades were carried out by men who legally possessed firearms, an investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found.
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Guns in Texas
Biden rule reclassifying some pistols as short-barreled rifles draws Texas lawsuit
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives amended a rule that classifies guns with “stabilized braces” as rifles, which are subject to different regulations, triggering the objection of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gun Owners of America.
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Guns in Texas
Texas’ complex relationship with firearms: Leading America in gun sales, but with a declining gun ownership rate
We examine decades of data on gun ownership and gun violence to show trends across the state. Some of them might surprise you.
