AUSTIN, Texas —  After mass shootings in Texas, Republican lawmakers have focused on mental health reforms and downplayed guns. But in a surprise move Monday, a Texas House committee voted to advance a bill (HB 2744) that would raise the age to buy certain semi-automatic weapons. It's been the key ask of Uvalde families, who were back at the Capitol Monday urging lawmakers to take this step. The Uvalde gunman legally purchased the AR-15-style rifle he used as soon as he turned 18. This bill would raise the age to 21. 

Two Republicans joined the Democrats on the committee to advance the bill. It still faces an uphill climb to become law in the Republican-led Legislature, and Gov. Greg Abbott has said it would not be constitutional. The proposal likely wouldn't have affected the Allen gunman who was 33.

There are less than three weeks left in the regular legislative session. Democrats and Republicans are split, and admit they don’t have all the answers on how to solve the issue of mass shootings.

Democrats want stronger gun laws. Republicans want more mental health resources. But on Monday, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, said he’s not sure what could have prevented this tragedy.

“I don’t have the answers. I don’t have a bill in front of you. I’m not sure there are any bills in front of us this morning, this session, that could have prevented this,” he said.

Right outside the House chamber, Texans called on lawmakers to raise the age to purchase an assault-style rifle to 21 years old. Rep. Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande City, heads the committee that heard testimony on that legislation. After initially saying he wouldn’t take up the so-called “raise the age” bill, he had a change of heart. It passed out of committee with Republican support, but Rep. Guillen noted it still faces long odds.

“It doesn’t have the support of the Legislature, but we’re considering it,” he said. 

He said the solution to ending mass shootings is to take guns away from bad people, but he doesn’t know how to do that.  

“I don’t have all the answers, and that’s the challenge, is finding how to do that, how to take guns away from every bad person out there,” Rep. Guillen said. “That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”  

Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, voted in favor of the legislation and got hugs from Uvalde family members. Even if the bill doesn’t make it beyond committee, she said she won’t stop fighting for stronger gun laws. 

“We will continue pushing, whether it ends up happening this session, next session or years down the road. We will continue to work towards gun violence prevention,” she said. “I will continue working on the issue forever.”  

Other legislation she supports include background checks for all firearm sales, a “cooling off” period of 72 hours after the purchase of a firearm and a temporary removal of firearms from those who are an imminent danger to themselves or others.

“I'm hopeful that with what's happening in society — the increase in gun violence — that members will really dedicate themselves, give a renewed effort towards getting some bills at least to the floor for debate,” said Rep. Goodwin. “The governor has said that he is not in favor of more gun safety legislation. He's in favor of more mental health resources. However, he himself said that it seems the man who did the shooting in Allen was angry, and angry isn't a diagnosable mental illness.” 

But getting the bill to the floor for debate is unlikely. On Tuesday, families from Uvalde were once again at the Texas Capitol. They were asking lawmakers to add the bill to the House calendar. Thursday is the last day to advance the bill out of the House. 

Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, is open to having a discussion on the House floor about the “raise the age” bill, but his focus remains elsewhere.

“I absolutely do believe we need to continue our focus on mental health and funding for that,” he said.

In conversations with his constituents, Rep. Clardy said “there's been support for 21 versus 18.” He doesn’t like the connotation of so-called “red flag laws,'' and said people in his district wouldn’t support confiscating guns. But Rep. Clardy does think there could be a way through “court intervention, based on solid testimony” that law enforcement officials could “identify people who are having issues,” so that “we can address it preventatively rather than a response to a tragedy.” He said social media giants could also help with this, although he’s worried about too much surveillance from “Big Brother.” 

“I do absolutely believe guns don't kill people,” he said. “That gun laying on the table is no more dangerous than my cell phone or that bottle of hand sanitizer. It's a tool, it's an instrument, and it takes somebody to exercise that instrumentality to cause harm and death. And so, I want us to focus on the mental health.” 

Rep. Clardy said we’ve seen too many mass shootings in Texas.

“We're all sick of it, literally. We're all tired of it, literally. And what can we do?” Rep. Clardy asked. “There's an absolute fundamental right as an American to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Yet we see people's lives taken away on a way too frequent basis. We also have ingrained within our federal constitution and the Texas Constitution, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, which we hold equally dear as we do the other constitutional rights we’re afforded. So how do we balance those things? And that's the dilemma that we're faced with.”

He said he fears that we’ll be having more conversations about mass shootings in the not too distant future, “except this time, it may be in my district; this time, it may be my family.” Because of that, Rep. Clardy said he looks forward to debate with his colleagues on the floor on both mental health- and gun-related bills.

“I think we owe it to the people we represent in the state of Texas to try and make that change. And so I'm committed to do that. I believe my colleagues in the House are committed to do that. And I look forward to the time that we can do this, and at least feel like if and when this happens again, we made our best effort to take actions to preclude it,” Rep. Clardy said. 

At a news conference Monday, the governor was asked about the Allen massacre. He said more information is needed from investigators before figuring out a resolution. 

“That will inform us as Texas leaders about next steps to take to try to prevent crimes like this from taking place in the future,” said Gov. Abbott. 

Such mass shootings have traumatized Texans. Rep. Goodwin recalled a story from her days campaigning.

“I remember my first time running for office, I knocked on the door of a teacher,” Rep. Goodwin said. “She relayed a story of one of her students who would not sit with his back to the door because he wanted to be able to see if a shooter came into his classroom. That's the world that we live in now. It's very sad. And we've got to, again, pass some policy that tells the people of Texas that we do care, that we want to make Texas a safer place. And so I will continue working on that.” 

Rep. Mihaela Plesa, D-Dallas, who represents part of Allen, said it’s been heartbreaking to see her constituents go through such devastation.

“People will never be able to shop at the Allen Outlet again without thinking of those souls,” she said. “My friends were there. My constituents were there. We're never going to overcome this unless we fix the issue.” 

She supports her Democrat colleagues’ legislation to enact stronger gun laws.

“We can protect the Second Amendment and protect second-graders,” she said. “I own a gun. My family owns guns. It's not about taking all guns away. It's making sure that the right people have the guns, but good guys with the guns.” 

She also supports increasing mental health resources. 

“I'm very proud to be carrying NAMI’s number one mental health priority bill this session,” she said. “House Bill 4713 is the first step in that long journey to making sure that we're not the least uninsured state in the nation, to make sure that we're not leading the nation and untreated mental health cases, to make sure that our kids, our parents, our families, our communities, our businesses are safe.” 

That bill passed the House, yet two representatives in North Texas, where the most recent mass shooting happened, didn’t support it.

Although Republicans and Democrats overall have different approaches on how to solve the issue, they both agree there have been far too many mass shootings in Texas.

“We have to work together. We have to meet the moment. And we have to keep our citizens safe,” Rep. Plesa said. 

As of Tuesday night, House Bill 2744, which would raise the age to purchase an assault-style rifle to 21 and is the priority for Uvalde families, was not on the House floor calendar. 

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