Texas senator continues gun safety bills push to prevent mass shootings after Uvalde

Sen. Roland Gutierrez filed an additional four gun safety bills this week in his fight to prevent more mass shootings after 19 fourth graders and two teachers were shot and killed in Uvalde in May.

The bills would require vendors to report bulk ammunition sales to a new Texas Department of Public Safety database, expand safe storage requirements, require gun owners to have liability insurance, and require an ID to purchase ammunition.

Gutierrez, a Democrat from San Antonio whose district includes Uvalde, has already filed bills to create extreme risk protective orders, raise the minimum age to purchase military-style semi-automatic rifles, and create a Uvalde Victims’ Compensation Fund.

Families of Uvalde and Santa Fe school shooting victims filled the Texas Senate press room Tuesday to show support for Gutierrez’s bills, many of them holding photos and wearing shirts depicting their lost loved ones.

Several victims' family members were emotional Tuesday as they addressed the media, exactly five years to the day since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and a day after a gunman shot and killed three students and wounded five others at Michigan State University.

“In five years what has changed? The violence Americans are experiencing, nobody should experience, especially children,” said Jazmin Cazares, the older sister of Uvalde victim Jackie Cazares. “So why isn’t anything being done? I’m tired of repeating myself because leaders aren’t listening.”

Gutierrez pointed toward action Florida lawmakers took after 17 people were killed in the mass shooting in Parkland.

“You had a Republican-controlled Senate and House and governor that, in 23 days, had massive gun safety solutions, and we’re not just talking about a bill to raise the age limit, they did that, they also did extreme risk protective orders. They did domestic violence protections,” Gutierrez said. “It took them 23 days to do the right thing. And, unfortunately, we have leadership here that would rather talk about trivial things than what matters most to us, which is our children.”

Tuesday’s news conference was the third of its kind Gutierrez has held since the start of the session on Jan. 10 to introduce legislation he’s filed to demand accountability for the chaotic and flawed law enforcement response to the Uvalde shooting, improve mass shooting training policies, increase school security, allow for legal recourse for the families of school shooting victims, and to honor the 21 killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.

More:Texas senator files bills to improve mass shooting training after Uvalde massacre

Gutierrez and the Uvalde and Santa Fe victims' families say gun safety is their top priority for lawmakers to address this legislative session.

“The solutions that we’re talking about here are nonpartisan, they’re common sense … it is high time we do something,” Gutierrez said.

SB 911: creating a bulk ammunition database

On Tuesday, Gutierrez, along with Democratic Sens. Nathan Johnson of Dallas and José Menéndez of San Antonio, filed Senate Bill 911, which would create a bulk ammunition database and require vendors who sell ammunition in quantities bigger than 200 rounds to register and log bulk purchases.

If a person buys more than 200 rounds of ammunition at a time, the vendor would be required to report the sale to the database, providing the date of the sale, the type of ammunition purchased, and the name and address of the purchaser. The DPS would be charged with maintaining and monitoring the database.

“If you buy a Sudafed at Walgreens, your information goes into a database. We should have the same requirements for ammunition,” Gutierrez said. “When a kid buys over 900 rounds of ammunition, then he buys another 1,600 rounds of ammunition online, somehow the significance of that moment should ring true in somebody's registry somewhere, someone's database somewhere. Law enforcement should say, ‘We have to go talk to this young man, quickly.’”

Under SB 911, any person seeking to buy more than 200 rounds of ammunition at a time will also be required to undergo a background check. Vendors would be responsible for ensuring the purchaser has passed the background check before making the sale.

Any violations would be a Class A misdemeanor, and any person who knowingly lies on a form to make a bulk ammunition purchase would be guilty of a third-degree felony.

SB 912: expanding safe storage requirements

SB 912, filed Tuesday by Sens. Gutierrez, Menéndez and Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, would require gun owners to ensure all their firearms are securely stored, whether or not a child has access to the gun.

If a child does have access to a gun and brings it onto school property, or fires the gun and injures or kills another person, the gun owner could be charged with a third-degree felony under SB 912.

The bill also would require gun owners to report any theft of their firearms to law enforcement within 10 days.

SB 913: requiring gun owners to have liability insurance

SB 913, also filed by Gutierrez, Eckhardt and Menéndez, would require every gun owner to have liability insurance for any property damage, bodily injury or death that occurs with their gun, with exceptions for military service members, National Guard troops and on-duty police officers.

The liability insurance must cover a minimum of $50,000 for property damage, $100,000 for injury or death, and $300,000 for injury or death of two or more people. Gun owners must also provide proof of insurance to law enforcement when requested and when applying for or renewing a gun license, or face fines.

SB 914: Identification requirement for ammunition purchases

SB 914, filed by Gutierrez and Menéndez, would require anyone purchasing ammunition to show identification, and make it a Class A misdemeanor for a vendor to knowingly sell ammunition to minors.

'Stand up and do something'

In the months since the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary, many of the victims’ families have devoted themselves to advocacy, making several trips to Washington, D.C., to advocate for a federal ban on assault-style weapons, and regularly traveling to Austin to push lawmakers to raise the purchase age for military-style semi- automatic rifles.

Rosie Yanas Stone, whose 17-year-old son Chris Stone was killed defending his classmates in the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, slammed lawmakers for their inaction.

“We have all of these families that are doing your job. I shouldn't be standing here talking to y'all; we shouldn't be walking these halls. We shouldn't be asking you to do your job,” Stone said, crying. “It's just ridiculous to me that I'm standing here yet again, asking for your help to save the next kid's life because you can't save mine. When you had the chance to save mine, you didn’t. But there's still millions of other kids out there who need you, so I'm asking you to stand up and do something.”

But the gun control measures the Uvalde and Santa Fe families want to see passed face steep hurdles in the Legislature, where Republicans hold majorities in the Senate and House, as well as all major statewide offices. In recent sessions, Republicans moved to loosen gun restrictions by legalizing permitless carry of handguns.

House Speaker Dade Phelan told reporters last month he would be open to allowing a debate on raising the purchase age for military-style semi-automatic rifles, but he cautioned that he didn't think the proposal has the votes to pass. A spokesperson for the speaker’s office declined to comment on the four gun bills Gutierrez filed Tuesday.

Any gun safety bill has an even higher threshold to pass in the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over that chamber, has staunchly opposed increased gun control measures. Gov. Greg Abbott, Phelan and Patrick have all regularly pointed to increasing school security and improving access to mental health resources as possible solutions to preventing school shootings.

More:Senate report: Investments in school safety, mental health care needed after Uvalde shooting

Scot Rice, whose wife, Flo Rice, was shot but survived the Santa Fe shooting, says this shouldn’t be a partisan issue.

“I’m a staunch Republican; I voted for Trump,” said Rice. "I went on the campaign trail with the governor. … He sat down with us and promised us things, and then they turned their backs on us.

“It's very hard to be here. Nearly five years later, since May 18, 2018. … We’ve been coming here for five years advocating for change. We worked with the governor, lieutenant governor and our legislators. They promised us Uvalde would not happen. They said they fixed the problems. And when Uvalde happened, it broke us.”

Gutierrez said none of his proposals seek to take anyone's guns away.

“It is important that the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House understand that we have to do the minimum here," Gutierrez said. "It is important that Republicans in this building understand that we have to do something to make it harder for this to happen. We come back session after session; promises are made and promises are not kept. These families are not going to stop … because their kids they lost on May 24, on May 18 five years ago, deserve something better.”

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature: Senator files gun safety bills to curb shootings