Courtesy Photo / Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center
Authorities were only able to identify the body of Maite Rodriguez, 10, who died at Robb Elementary School because of the green Converse shoes she was wearing.
The 8-to-5 vote amounts to a last-minute rescue for the proposal, since Monday is the final day of the current legislative session that bills can be voted out of committee for floor debate.
Just two hours prior, families of Uvalde school shooting victims pushed Committee Chair Ryan Guillen, R-Rio Grande, to see that House Bill 2744 was approved for wider discussion, according to the Texas Tribune.
The families of the 19 children slain in the Robb Elementary School shooting lobbied vigorously for the legislation and were forced to wait 12 hours to testify in support of the proposal when the committee took it up in April. Two teachers also died in the massacre.
“Mr. Guillen, and anybody else who is stopping this bill from passing, sad to say but more blood will be on your hands," Javier Cazares, father of a 9-year-old girl slain in the Uvalde massacre, said during a Monday-morning press conference, the Tribune reports.
Following the committee vote, the Texas Legislature now has three weeks to consider HB 2744 before the session ends May 29.
The bill still faces long odds of final passage since Republicans hold all levers of power in Texas' state government. Gov. Greg Abbott has said a law raising the purchase age for firearms would be unconstitutional, and the Texas Senate, controlled by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, has yet to schedule a hearing for a similar piece of legislation.
In an emailed statement, State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, whose district includes Uvalde, said the Lege can't wait for another mass shooting to move on gun reform.
Gutierrez has filed 24 pieces of gun reform legislation this session, including one raising the purchase age for semi-automatic rifles. None of those has received a hearing on the Senate floor.
“Nothing can bring back the lives we’ve lost, but this will help to save lives in the future. We need to see this bill passed,” Gutierrez added. “Semiautomatic rifles, weapons of war, are being used to hurt our children, families running errands, concertgoers and grocery shoppers. If Texas Republicans aren’t going to vote to help protect our families, then they better step out of our way.”
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