Nelson addresses recent Texas mayors' letter on gun reform

In the wake of the deadliest mass shooting of this year in Uvalde, Texas, Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson signed on with a group of 12 other big city mayors, including five other Republican mayors, in an open letter to call for immediate action from Gov. Greg Abbott and state leaders for reasonable solutions to prevent mass shootings in the state. Nelson spoke with the Globe-News about her reasoning for joining the other mayors in calling for measures to be taken and the misconceptions some may have about what the letter means in trying to protect her citizens.

According to its website, the Texas’ Big City Mayors is a bipartisan coalition of mayors from Texas’ most populous cities, representing nearly one-third of the state’s residents, that advocates for policies and initiatives that will strengthen its communities and improve the quality of life for all Texans.

The mayors of Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Houston, Laredo, Plano, San Antonio and Sugar Land joined Nelson in signing the letter.

Calling on Abbott to convene a special session the letter asks the legislature to discuss five general points as reforms:

• “Require universal background checks for gun purchases.

• Increase the age to purchase assault weapons in Texas to 21.

• Pass Red Flag laws to identify threats before shootings.

• Significantly increase mental health support funding.

• Train and properly resource school safety officers.”

To see the complete letter that Nelson signed go to https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VTrIGkvA2sirHUFa1NwRbuviyEEP--II/view

Upon the news of the letter, Amarillo Councilmember Cole Stanley released a statement, stating:

“This open letter does not accurately represent the majority of our community’s views on our Second Amendment rights and our right to security. Thirteen Mayors' opinions do not supersede the Bill of Rights guaranteed in our constitutional republic. Out of the five recommendations in Mayor Nelson’s letter, only two have any merit in affecting public safety, those being mental health and armed school security.”

To see Stanley's complete statement in response to the letter go to https://www.facebook.com/ColeStanleyForAmarillo/posts/pfbid02m4p2nohmCYnLJ5SZc6zbfySc4NtAd7R4SGNTBm56gdKLhATQfhtbWdi8dmgeKGAHl

Stanley vehemently stated his opposition to Red Flag laws, which he described as an attack on the Second Amendment and one that would violate due process.

“The school shooting was very shocking and devastating, sad for those kids and their families as well as the teachers in that community,” Nelson said. “So, families are asking me what we are going to do to make sure that does not happen in our community. As a leader, I have been wrestling with that idea of, is the status quo enough, or does something need to change to protect our schools, our kids our teachers better?”

Nelson said, responding to criticism from some members of her party and community, that she felt that as mayor she has a responsibility to work across party lines to try to make children and families safer throughout the state.

“It is not OK for any child to be shot and killed at school; so how do we keep that from happening ever again,” Nelson added. “We think as mayors, there are some things we agree on no matter our political parties, and those places where we agree seemed to be a good place to start.”

Nelson said the letter represents five different recommendations, of which she did not necessarily agree with all of those proposed, but she did prioritize age restrictions for assault weapons and mental health, especially in the school system and youth.

She said it was in that framework that she decided to join with the other big-city mayors to work to make sure that does not happen again. Nelson said there was a lot of discussion on different ideas that the mayors as a whole would like the Texas legislature to take up in session. Changes and dialogue need to happen, in her opinion.

“You can sign the letter in the spirit of consensus to say our legislature should consider and weigh the pros and cons of all these options," Nelson said. “That is how consensus-building works. In as much as anything that this was about gun safety, it was also about modeling how to build a consensus to work on an issue. In this process, no one party gets 100% of what they want, but progress can be made on the solution if everyone is willing to give a little.”

When asked if she favored Red Flag laws, Nelson responded that her concern was the implementation of those laws. In theory, Nelson felt it is a good idea to restrict someone who has had emotional or mental health issues that might make them a danger to society as a gun owner. She says the devil is in the details of how these laws were written and implemented. She stated that Texas should look at how other states have been able to implement these types of laws and evaluate how that may work in the state.

Saying that she was comfortable signing the letter, Nelson said the impetus of all this is to have the legislature consider what they can do to protect its citizens.

“Is there anything we could learn that we could use and build a consensus on?" Nelson said. “It must start with small steps in the right direction. If we are dug in, saying we will absolutely not consider making changes, then what we are saying (is) we are comfortable with the status quo. We must have dialogue and look at measures that may prevent these tragedies. No parent is comfortable with children dying.”

When asked if there were other measures that she would have liked to be looked at to reduce these types of mass shootings, Nelson said she was open to other ideas, but her priorities were age restrictions and increasing mental health services.

In response to many leaders always focusing on mental health as the only issue and not access to guns, Nelson said that she respects and welcomes differences of opinions that lead to constructive conversations about protecting children and teachers at school.

“There are some common-sense reasonable ways to address that, and the letter lays a foundation for those conversations," Nelson said. “The Second Amendment is especially important and is important for protecting our freedoms, but the sanctity of our children’s and teachers’ lives is important, too. We have to find a way where we can talk about Second Amendment rights but really address the issue of school and gun safety to protect our children and teachers.”

She said a key component is reasonable listening and talking with each other.

“We do not have to agree with 100% of the solutions, but we have to put ourselves in a position to talk and listen productively,” Nelson said. "I respect people that have a different opinion and want to create an environment where our conversations help to make our schools safer.”

Nelson says that she is a gun owner and understands and believes that the right for people to own a gun is important to protecting democracy.

“As a mom, I know that we are trending with gun violence and school shootings in a direction that no parent or grandparent wants to see, so, we have to decide how to change what is happening,” Nelson said. “The status quo as it is with increased shootings, increased deaths of children and teachers is not OK. We have got to figure this out with calm reasonable conversation not based on party rhetoric, with attempts to understand all sides of the issue to see where we can agree to make things better.”

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Mayor Nelson addresses letter on gun reform