TEXAS, USA — From El Paso to Sutherland Springs and Santa Fe, Texas has experienced the rise of mass shootings.
After the massacres, there have been roundtables, after-action reports, executive orders and agency directives but the Lone Star State remains a hot spot for mass shootings.
Uvalde is now part of the list of mass violence at the hands of guns. Gun violence prevention organizations say to address root causes, laws must be changed.
It was after the May 2018 Santa Fe High School mass shooting when Governor Greg Abbott released his 'School and Firearm Safety Action Plan.'
In it, Gov. Abbott directed the Texas School Safety Center to provide active shooter and emergency response training.
He also recommended hardening school facilities to reduce security threats by taking measures like “installing metal detectors at school entrances; active shooter alarm systems; and controlled access to campus facilities.”
It was still not enough to prevent the latest school shooting in Uvalde.
“I don’t think that our top state leadership is really meeting the moment and the public sentiment when they don’t even use the word gun in their language when they say mass violence- yes it’s mass violence but it’s gun violence,” said Texas Gun Sense Executive Director Nicole Golden.
Golden had previously participated in roundtables with Abbott on mass shootings and said nothing has changed.
“This time, what it looks like to me, and probably I’m not the only one is that — I don’t hear a whole lot of safe gun law movement at this point even though we just witness 19 children and 2 educators be shot and killed in their school,” Golden said.
In September 2019, following mass shootings in Sutherland Springs and El Paso, Gov. Abbott released another Texas Safety Action Report after holding roundtables with community stakeholders.
The result of the report was 8 Executive Orders that directed agencies in whole or part to come up with strategies or plans “to identify potential mass shooters or terroristic threats” and provide training or awareness.”
But Golden said not discussing gun solutions to gun violence could be empty promises.
“All eyes are on Texas right now, once again even more intently and emotionally in the wake of last week," she said. "So the reasons are there and the facts are there.”
Gov. Abbott previously has supported a study of 'Red Flag Laws' and other firearm safety measures.
In the 2018 plan, Gov. Abbott encouraged the state legislature to look into some key areas.
- Closing gaps in information reporting for background checks by creating a case management system for Texas judges.
- Encouraging the legislature to study the possibility of creating a “red flag” law to identify persons who are a danger to themselves or others and who either have access to or own firearms.
- Work to make sure that adjudications affecting the right to legally purchase and possess firearms are reported within 48 hours. This 48-hour requirement should also extend to protective orders and family violence convictions.
- Strengthening the Safe Firearm Storage Law.
- Mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns.
Gov. Abbott declined a request for an interview or comment on this story.
Through the previous reports, the governor has mentioned the need to address mental health issues, something he repeated following the Uvalde mass shooting.