AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The first public hearings in Texas to address the Uwalde school massacre focused on a cascade of law enforcement mistakes, school building safety and mental health care with only a faint mention of the semi-style AR-15 of the shooter. reform of automatic rifles and weapons.
A day after the Texas state chief called the law enforcement response to the May 24 massacre a “serious failure,” Texas senators on Wednesday turned their attention to funding mental health for schools and a shortage of mental health counselors and providers.
So far, lawmakers and witnesses at the Texas Capitol hearings have made little mention of the gun debate. On one of the few occasions when this happened, Democrat Sen. Jose Menendez asked Col. Steve McCrow, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, if the attacker could have caused so much damage with a bat, knife or revolver.
“No,” McCrow said.
The awkward response to the attack, which killed 19 children and two teachers at Rob Elementary School, infuriated the nation, and a recent wave of deadly mass shootings has revived calls for more gun laws.
By the end of the week, the US Senate may pass new legislation that will increase inspections for the youngest buyers of firearms and require more vendors to conduct inspections.
Wednesday’s hearing in Texas had just begun when non-committee members debated what weapons should be allowed in the state’s Capitol, where guns are and rifles are not. Democrat Gina Hinohosa, a Democrat, tweeted that lawmakers must “be realistic about our ability to protect the public from AR-15.” Briscoe Kane, one of the most conservative members of the House, said long rifles “should not be banned in the Capitol.”
Outside the Texas Senate, nearly two dozen members of the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America lined up at the entrance, holding placards criticizing Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and urging lawmakers to consider new restrictions on gun sales and ownership. .
“We’re tired of these idle commissions and roundtables that happen after every mass shooting in Texas,” said Melanie Green of Austin. “They talk about what went wrong and it’s usually everything but weapons. We are tired of all the talk and we want some action. ”
The group wants lawmakers to consider raising the age of possession of weapons from 18 to 21, checking all arms sales and a red flag law that would allow authorities to take weapons from those considered dangerous. The gunman at Rob Elementary School is 18-year-old former student Salvador Ramos.
Green is not an optimist, and none of these ideas will be adopted by the Republican-dominated panel.
“This committee is an exhibition of dogs and ponies. This is a performative political theater. But we will not give up, “Green said.
Texas does not require a permit to carry a long rifle like the one used in Uwalde. Last year, lawmakers made it legal for anyone aged 21 and over to carry a gun in public without a license, inspection or training.
Republican-dominated state legislatures have spent the past decade lifting gun restrictions, even as Texas suffered a series of mass shootings at El Paso Walmart, a church in Sutherland Springs and Santa Fe High School near Houston.
Republican Sen. Bob Hall tried to steer the first hearing away from any gun talk.
“You don’t need a gun. This man had ample time to do it with his hands or with a baseball bat. So it’s not the gun, it’s the man, “Hall said Tuesday.
Sen. Royce West, one of the few Senate Democrats to raise arms control, said that “without discussing these rights and the restrictions associated with them, this would be an incomplete discussion.”
However, delays and errors in law enforcement response at Rob Elementary School are at the center of investigations at the federal, state, and local levels.
The head of public security said on Tuesday that police had enough police and firepower at the school to stop Ramos three minutes after entering the building, but instead waited more than an hour before breaking into the classroom and to kill him.
McCraw outlined a series of missed opportunities, communication failures and errors based on an investigation that included approximately 700 interviews. He also blamed Pete Aredondo, the Uwalde school police chief, whom McCrow said was the commander.
Aredondo, who testified Tuesday at a closed-door hearing at the Texas House Commission, said he did not consider himself responsible and suggested someone else had taken control. He rejected repeated requests for comment from the Associated Press.
The mayor of Uwalde dismissed McCrow’s testimony, accusing Aredondo of saying that the Ministry of Public Security had repeatedly leaked false information about the shooting and concealed the role of its own officials.
Public pressure has intensified for state and local officials to release more information.
On Wednesday, State Senator Roland Gutierrez, representing Uwalde, filed a lawsuit seeking to force the Texas Department of Public Safety to hand over its records related to the shooting investigation. The families of the victims “deserve to know the full, unchanging truth about what happened that day,” the Democrat’s lawyer wrote in the case.
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Bleiberg reported from Dallas. Associated Press writer John Sewer of Toledo, Ohio, contributed to the report.
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