AUSTIN — AUSTIN, Texas – The second day of Governor Greg Abbott’s three-day roundtable on school safety wrapped up late Wednesday afternoon after nearly three hours of discussion.
The focus of the talks, held at the State Capitol in Austin, was on the root causes of gun violence, gun regulation, and mental health.
Many of the more than 20 suggestions to come from the discussion centered around mental health: better access, screening, training, and more counselors.
Although the opening day of talks on Tuesday focused on “hardening” the defenses of schools statewide, some suggestions to come out of Day 2 were school-related: better in-school discipline, social media evaluation, and using an app to let students report suspicious or potentially dangerous activity.
Wednesday’s 25-person panel featured almost entirely new faces. Law enforcement, school officials, mental health experts, and advocates on both sides of the gun control debate all had a seat at the table.
Gun regulation was the most divisive issue, though Governor Abbott said nearly everyone agreed on the need to strengthen and promote safe storage laws after authorities say the confessed Santa Fe shooter used his father’s guns.
The governor also said he supports rules shortening the filing time for a mental health denial on gun purchases to no more than 48 hours. He says currently in Texas the process can take as long as 30 days.
“I as governor want to immediately announce some solutions that either I can take through the executive route or that I will suggest can be taken through the legislative route,” Abbott said. “Then the separate track will be the legislative route, and that will be up to the House and Senate working together on solutions, and this is the beginning of that process.”
Ed Scruggs, Board Vice Chair for Texas Gun Sense, said universal background checks did come up during Wednesday’s dialogue. He believes there is a consensus that problems exist with the current background check process, but he says, politically, universal background checks are a tougher issue to advance.
“Several cases, Santa Fe being one, where storage was a big issue, but we also had in Houston the four kids bringing guns to school on Monday, they obviously weren’t secured well,” said Scruggs. “Accidental child deaths, a big problem with theft of guns, we talked extensively about those things, and I think they’re open to that idea.”
Another issue that came up: potentially raising the age of parental responsibility for safe storage. Texas does have a law on the books for children under 17, but the confessed Santa Fe shooter is 17.
Eric Johnson, who currently lives in Austin but grew up across the street from Santa Fe High School, was at the Capitol on Wednesday, though he did not take part in the roundtable.
“Do something,” said Johnson, wearing a Santa Fe High School shirt, when asked what he would say to lawmakers. “Call a special session. Our legislature is the roundtable. Get something done, do something. It’s gonna take a lot, but we gotta start somewhere.”
The third and final day of the school roundtable discussions on Thursday will focus on shooting victims and their families. The panel is set to include 50 people, including survivors of the Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs shootings.