- One bill would create a school violence compensation fund for any child or adult killed or injured by a firearm on a public school campus.
- The second bill would abolish qualified immunity protection for police officers.
- Raising the minimum age to purchase military rifles is one of the top priorities for the families of Uvalde’s victims.
Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San, whose county includes Uvalde, unveiled four bills he is filing to reduce gun violence, increase support for school shooting victims and survivors, and hold accountable for misguided law enforcement response to mass shootings. shooting at Robb at elementary school in May.
Several families of victims of the Uvalde school shooting joined Gutierrez in Tuesday’s statement, eight months after 19 children and two teachers were killed in a horrific mass shooting. In emotional testimony, they demanded that lawmakers take action to reduce gun violence.
When will there be enough bloodshed? Are you waiting for this to happen to you or your family before you stop thinking about your gross negligence?” said Velma Lisa Duran, older sister of Irma Garcia, one of the two teachers killed in Uvalda on May 24.
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“I encourage you to take the time to imagine our loved ones gathered together in a coffin, knowing that their last breath on earth was the most frightening experience of their lives,” she said. “The hopelessness and courage that these children had to endure.” , like a soldier in war, but without protective equipment and large-caliber weapons. How do you sit in your offices of power and do nothing to put an end to this violence? … Americans are killing Americans, and our government leaders are helping.”
The families of Uvalde’s victims said they plan to return to the Capitol weekly to join Gutierrez in issuing additional gun safety bills in this legislative session and push lawmakers to support the measures. Several Democratic lawmakers, including State Senators Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, and Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, and State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, joined the Gutierrez and Uvalde families for Tuesday’s announcement. .
“This should be a session where we do something about gun safety,” Gutiérrez said. “We are not asking for the moon and stars; we ask for decisions based on common sense. These families are broken. They’re evil as hell, they’re evil, and there’s not one damn thing anyone can do to get their children back, but under no circumstances should we allow their children’s death to be in vain. “.
What are the proposals about?
Of the four measures announced by Gutierrez on Tuesday, one bill would create a compensation fund for victims of school violence for any child or adult killed or injured by a firearm on a public school campus. The program will be funded by the introduction of a new tax on firearms and ammunition in Texas levying 50 cents per bullet sold and $50 per firearm.
Under Gutierrez’s proposal, the families of those killed in the school shooting would be eligible for $1 million each, anyone “seriously physically injured” would be eligible for $250,000, those who were mentally or emotionally injured would be eligible for $100,000 and those physically injured will be eligible for $50,000.
Another bill Gutierrez says he plans to introduce would remove qualified immunity protections for police officers and allow “persons affected by the actions or omissions of police officers to hold those officers liable for damages and/or violations of their rights.” ”, — stated in the new release of Gutierrez.
“You can sue a lawyer, you can sue a doctor, but you can’t sue cops when they’re negligent. It’s amazing to me,” Gutierrez said. “What happened that day (at Robb Elementary) is a government agency, the Department of Public Safety, let these kids down for 77 minutes due to lack of leadership, under no circumstances should they be allowed to leave and not compensate people. There is no such amount of money that will return their children, not a bit, but there must be justice.
Gutiérrez also filed two resolutions Tuesday, the first of which would allow the families of Uvalde’s victims to sue the state and its ancillary agencies for their negligence in responding to the mass shootings. Hundreds of state and local law enforcement waited more than 77 minutes to confront and kill the shooter, despite desperate 911 calls from terrified children locked in the two classrooms targeted by the shooter.
The second resolution, filed by Gutierrez, requires Congress to repeal the federal Lawful Arms Trade Protection Act, which protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits when crimes are committed with their products. According to the ruling, Gutiérrez was particularly critical of Daniel Defense, the manufacturer of the weapon used to shoot Uvalda, criticizing the company’s “irresponsible marketing and dangerous advertising” aimed at young men.
“You can sue big tobacco, you can sue big beer, but you can’t sue big guns?” Gutierrez said. “We have to allow it.”
While the four measures announced Tuesday focus on fairness, Gutiérrez said other laws he plans to file in the coming weeks deal with appropriations, emergency management and preparedness, and gun safety decisions.
He has already filed bills in this session to create emergency risk protection orders, raise the minimum age to purchase military-grade semi-automatic rifles, and create a separate compensation fund for Uvalde’s victims.
Relatives of Uvalde victims call for more gun restrictions
Raising the minimum age to purchase military rifles is one of the top priorities the families of Uvalde’s victims have been calling for since the massacre, and they have repeatedly traveled to Austin and Washington to plead with lawmakers to pass the assault ban. weapon style.
The Uwalde gunman who staged the deadliest school shooting in Texas history legally acquired a firearm just days after his 18th birthday.
In tears, Uvalde victim Irma Garcia’s younger sister, Marissa Lozano, described seeing her sister’s body in a coffin, highlighting why she wants lawmakers to impose stricter restrictions on access to military-grade semi-automatic rifles.
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“Seeing my beautiful sister in her coffin was heartbreaking. The face that was always laughing and smiling was now something I didn’t recognize,” Lozano said through tears. “The reconstruction of her face was a heroic effort, but it was not my sister’s face. We could not even touch her hair for fear that the prostheses would fall apart.
“Although they covered her hands with a piece of cloth, I still see bullet wounds on the back of her hands. Her riddled body lay before me in a coffin, and my brother-in-law, only a few feet in his coffin, this vision was imprinted in my memory.
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Irma Garcia’s husband died a few days after his wife’s murder. His family says he died of a broken heart.
“I look at my sister’s orphaned children and think…what if (the shooter) can never buy these types of weapons? You say that raising the age limit will not prevent these atrocities because the criminals do not follow the law. Well, this shooter did it,” Lozano said. “I wonder if there were 21 abortions in these classes if our elected officials stepped in and did the right thing.”
The accounts are up for an uphill battle
Bills Lozano and other families of shooting victims want to pass, including universal background checks and red flag laws, are facing uphill battles in the Republican Party-dominated legislature.
Republicans, who have eased gun restrictions in recent legislative sessions, have often shifted their focus from gun access to mental health resources and school hardening. And top state officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have said they believe raising the minimum age for buying semi-automatic rifles is unconstitutional, though the Supreme Court has yet to rule on the matter.
Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan told reporters last week that while he’s willing to let the debate on the issue play out on the House floor, he doubts it has the votes to get through. The measure has an even higher threshold for passage in the Senate, where Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has not been open to tightening gun control restrictions. Abbott, Phelan and Patrick said school safety is one of their priorities for this legislative session.
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But while the Uvalde families are hoping lawmakers will take action to funnel more resources into the state’s mental health infrastructure and public education system to improve school safety, the families said on Tuesday that more restrictions on access to military-style firearms have critical to reducing gun violence.
“Please don’t look away and do something,” Duran, Irma Garcia’s older sister, said. “We need to ban all assault weapons. Aren’t human lives more valuable than the money you pocket to support the NRA?”
Felicia Martinez, the mother of the shot Xavier Lopez, spoke in heartbreaking detail about how painful it was for their family to spend the holidays without Xavier.
“It was our first Christmas when my husband and I didn’t babysit and open presents,” Martinez said in tears. “Instead, we were locked in our room, crying, full of pain and anger, because the person who was the loudest during Christmas was no longer here. Our Xavier was a wild one who made sure everyone had a good holiday. … Instead, we were around the grave, telling Xavier how much we miss him and how much we wish he was here with us.”
