Families of victims of Uvalda massacre call for legislation amid renewed gun violence

As more people have died in recent days in mass shootings, parents and families of children killed in a school shooting in Wvalde, Texas eight months ago pleaded with state lawmakers on Tuesday to pass “common sense gun laws” so that the children “stop living in the United States NRA”.

Parents gathered at the Texas Capitol in Austin for a press conference where State Senator Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, announced the bills he has filed and other plans for this year’s legislature session, which began this month and will end. May 29.

They were joined by a parent of a student who died in a Santa Fe, Texas high school shooting in 2018.

“Look at these sound gun laws that our children and future need to live in the United States of America and stop living in the United States of the National Rifle Association,” said Velma Lisa Duran of San Antonio, referring to the National Rifle Association. , the most powerful gun lobbying group in the country.

Irma Garcia, Duran’s sister, was one of two teachers and 19 students killed in a May 4 shooting at Robb Primary School in Uvalde. Garcia’s husband, Joe Garcia, died two days later from a heart attack.

The Uvalda Massacre was the deadliest school shooting in Texas history and one of the deadliest in the nation. The response from law enforcement led to an investigation and outrage as the police waited over an hour to enter the building to stop the shooter.

Families and lawmakers called for action after a weekend shooting in California killed 18 people, a shooting in Iowa killed two people and a mass shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana injured 12 people. As of Tuesday, there have been 39 mass shootings this year. , according to NBC News.

Felicia Martinez, the mother of Xavier Lopez, who was killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, tries to hold back tears after speaking at a press conference at the Texas Capitol with Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez in Austin on Jan. 24.  , 2023.
Felicia Martinez, the mother of Xavier Lopez, who was killed at Robb’s elementary school, struggles to hold back tears after speaking at a press conference Tuesday at the Texas Capitol in Austin. Eric Gay / AP

The grief for the loss for the Uvalde families was visible in tears, sobs and anger as some of the family members made statements at a live-streamed press conference in Austin. Parents held pictures of their children and wore T-shirts and badges with their names and images.

Senator Roland Gutierrez, a Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, has filed two bills and two resolutions. One resolution calls on Congress to remove protections for gun manufacturers from lawsuits, and another would allow families to sue the state or its supporting agencies for not stopping the shooter.

In one of the bills, Gutiérrez proposes the creation of a compensation fund for the families of victims and victims of school violence, to be funded by taxes of 5 cents per cartridge and $50 per firearm.

The foundation will pay $1 million for each person killed, $250,000 for a person with serious injuries, $100,000 for those with mental injuries, and $50,000 for those with less serious bodily injuries. Gutierrez said the federal excise tax on guns purchased in Texas each year is about $97 million. “I think we can take part in this action,” he said.

The second bill would end the qualified immunity that protects police officers in the performance of their duties and has made it more difficult for the Uvalde families to hold officers accountable for the deaths of their loved ones.

Gutiérrez said he is filing the law on a case-by-case basis, not as part of a package to address a wide range of gun and violence issues to do justice to them. The strategy could force a vote specifically for legislation related to Uvalde.

Texas leaders and the Republican-controlled Legislature have been criticized for not tightening legislation in the wake of other mass shootings in the state, including the Santa Fe school shooting and the 2019 shooting at a Walmart in El Paso that left 23 people died and 23 were injured. .

Family members of those killed by a gunman at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas stand with Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez during a press conference at the Texas Capitol on January 24, 2023.
Relatives of those killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalda, Texas, stand with state senator Roland Gutierrez at a press conference at the Texas Capitol on Tuesday.Eric Gay / AP

Gutierrez plans to file other bills, and the parents plan to visit the Capitol more often to lobby for their passage.

Some parents have called for an increase in the minimum age for purchasing assault weapons, which is 18 in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott said it would be unconstitutional based on court decisions. Several states have set an age limit of 21 for the purchase of long guns.

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