Texas gun laws

One day after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden spoke out Wednesday in favor of “common sense” gun control and demanded confirmation of his nominee to lead the ATF. “Where’s the backbone? Where’s the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby?”

Former congressman and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke confronted Gov. Greg Abbott during a press conference Wednesday about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, calling the shooting “totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other state lawmakers have weakened Texas’ gun control laws in recent years, even after deadly shootings at a Walmart in El Paso, a high school in Santa Fe and a church in Sutherland Springs.

By a number of measures, guns in schools remain a deadly danger as in-class learning that was paused during the coronavirus pandemic resumes.