Texas Legislature Finally Advances “Raise the Age” Bill for Semiautomatic Guns After Mass Shooting
The New RepublicNov 01, 2022
Facts
- A Texas House committee Monday voted 8-5 in favor of a bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years old.[1]
- Two Republicans joined Democrats on the House Select Committee on Community Safety in passing the measure that had been held from a vote for several weeks and followed a Saturday shooting at a mall in Allen, Texas, that killed eight.[2]
- The bill, which would also stop the sale of firearms to people who are intoxicated or have a protective order against them, likely won't garner enough support to pass a full vote in the House or the state Senate. If it does, it’s unlikely Gov. Greg Abbott would sign it into law.[3]
- The unscheduled vote beat a Monday deadline for bills to get voted out of committee and receive a floor vote before the end of the legislative session.[4]
- The bill was filed by Democratic Rep. Tracy King, whose district includes Uvalde, which was the site of last year's school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers.[5]
Spin
Democratic narrative
It took mass protests from angry families to guilt House Republicans to bring this bill to a vote in the committee, and even then, just two Republicans supported it. Although this vote is a great indicator of what can happen when gun-safety supporters make their voices heard, it’s also a clear case of Republicans being beholden to gun lobbyists because the bill won’t get anywhere near enough support to become law.
Republican narrative
Once again, in an effort to place restrictions on Americans’ constitutional right to own guns, Democratic groups are politicizing a tragedy. If the minimum age to purchase a gun had been 21, it still wouldn’t have stopped the mall shooter, who was in his 30s. Restrictions on gun ownership aren't the answer to preventing these tragedies.
Nerd narrative
There's a 50% chance that there will be at least 1.4 firearms per capita in the US in 2029, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
