Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune
Hours after a Texas Senate committee mulled “red-flag” laws at the request of the governor, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggested in a news release Tuesday that any such law would be dead on arrival in the upper chamber in the next legislative session.
As mass shootings continue across the nation, more and more states have adopted laws that allow courts to order the seizure or surrender of guns from people who are deemed dangerous by a judge. After the fatal shooting at Santa Fe High School in May, Gov. Greg Abbott held multiple roundtable discussions and then released a school and gun safety plan, which included a page requesting that the Legislature consider red flag laws.
But after a four-hour hearing on the subject in the Senate Select Committee on Violence in Schools and School Security, Patrick released a statement making clear such proposals wouldn’t make it far in his chamber.
“Regarding the topic of ‘Red Flag’ laws, which was discussed today in the select committee, I have never supported these policies, nor has the majority of the Texas Senate,” Patrick said. “A bill offered last session garnered little support. Governor Greg Abbott formally asked the legislature to consider ‘Red Flag’ laws in May so I added them to the charges I gave to the select committee. However, Gov. Abbott has since said he doesn’t advocate ‘Red Flag’ laws.”
In his safety plan, Abbott urged the Texas House and Senate to hold hearings before the next legislative session, which begins in January, to “consider the merits of adopting a red flag law,” claiming that such orders could have been used to prevent the mass shootings in Sutherland Springs and Parkland, Fla. Democrats took the call as a nod of approval toward potential legislation.
Last month, however, after the topic drew opposition from conservative groups and was knocked in the Texas GOP’s party platform, Abbott tweeted during a House hearing on red flag laws that the school safety plan he released in May wasn’t specifically advocating red flags laws — “only that it is something the legislature can consider.”
He also asked the Legislature in his plan to evaluate whether existing protective orders are sufficient. Currently, courts can notify Texans under domestic violence protective orders that they cannot own guns or ammunition, but state law gives no guidance on how to get those Texans to hand over their firearms.
Today’s meeting was the Senate committee’s fourth and final on school safety. Its chair, Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, said the panel would release a report based on its meetings by the first week of August.
Matthew Choi contributed to this report.
Source: Texas Tribune Blue Left News
