While state senators in the eastern wing of the Capitol on Monday were debating a bill that would repeal regulations on short-barreled firearms like the one that was used in the 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting, lawmakers, gun regulation advocates and gun violence survivors held a news conference across the Rotunda vowing to fight for “gun sense.”
“We stand here as survivors, we stand here as Texans and we stand here as advocates, questioning why we’re here to discuss giving more access to firearms to individuals, especially those under the age of 21,” said Christina Delgado of Santa Fe, who is the Southwest advocacy associate for gun policy group Community Justice Action Fund.
Delgado testified before the House Homeland Security, Public Safety and Veterans’ Affairs Committee, which was hearing a slate of gun bills including one that would lower the legal age to carry a handgun from 21 to 18. Other bills the committee considered would allow guns in polling places, permit some convicted felons to carry firearms and remove state restrictions on short-barrel firearms.
Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, authored a bill that would repeal state restrictions on short-barrel firearms, like sawed-off shotguns.
The Senate on Monday by a 21-10 vote, largely along party lines, passed on second reading the proposal to remove restrictions on short-barrel firearms. Senate Bill 1596 by freshman Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, would strike a provision in state law that bans unregistered short-barrel firearms, though the weapons would still need to be registered under federal law.
SB 1596 is “really just eliminating unnecessary redundant law from Texas code,” Hagenbuch argued. He said that even with the repeal of the Texas law, the weapons would still be federally regulated.
Short-barrel firearms are rifles or shotguns with a shorter-than-usual barrel, defined by the federal government as 16 inches or shorter for a rifle and 18 inches or shorter for a shotgun. Federal law requires registration, a background check and a $200 fee to own one.
The weapons, critics of the bill said, are easy to conceal and can cause a lot of damage in close quarters. Short-barrel or “sawed-off” shotguns are known for widely scattering the projectiles from the shell.
The accused gunman in the Santa Fe High School shooting allegedly used a pistol and a short-barrel shotgun to kill eight students and two teachers and injure 13 others, including Flo Rice, who worked in the school as a substitute teacher.
“Our shooter had to hide his gun underneath his trench coat. Now, we’re talking about a potential sawed-off shotgun so small the next kid could put it in his backpack,” Rice said during the Monday news conference. She testified in a Senate committee on the bill in March, saying students “were easy targets for the wide blast of this sawed-off shotgun.”
Democratic senators who argued against the bill said the proposal would put Texas kids at risk.
“By fixing a so-called redundant and unnecessary law, you’re putting more guns on the street, and you’re going to make it easier for kids to get shot in this state,” said Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat whose district includes Uvalde, the small town where in 2022 a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary.
But Hagenbuch, the bill’s author, maintained that nothing would change if the bill were to pass.
“Currently, today you can have a short-barrel rifle as long as you register with the (federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), get the background check, pay $200 — that remains the same, even after we pass this,” Hagenbuch said.
Gun restriction advocates said they would remain undeterred in opposing bills like those heard Monday and will continue supporting legislation to curb gun violence in Texas.
“This fight is a very long battle, and we’re not going home,” Delgado said. “This is something that we will fight until we can put a dent and stop these things from being so easy to carry out.”
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Legislature considers bills to loosen gun laws