Texas bill to raise age on AR-style gun purchases advances days after Allen shooting

AUSTIN – Facing pressure from parents whose children died in the Uvalde school massacre and on the heels of another mass shooting in Allen, a House committee voted on Monday to raise the minimum age to buy most AR-style rifles from 18 to 21.

Two Republicans, Reps. Sam Harless of Spring and Justin Holland of Rockwall, joined with all six Democrats on the committee to advance the measure. Cheers erupted as the vote was taken in a packed committee room, as someone yelled “thank you.”

“This is a big win,” said Jerry Mata, whose daughter Tess was killed last May in the shooting at Robb Elementary School.

The bill is unlikely to become law, and it’s unclear whether it will even be debated on the House floor. But Monday’s vote represents the most substantial movement in recent years to tighten gun laws in the GOP-led Legislature, which has steadily loosened restrictions even in the face of previous mass shootings.

It comes just two days after a gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets, killing eight and wounding seven more. Authorities have released little information about the shooter, his motives or the weapons used. On Monday, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said the Legislature should do whatever it can to respond.

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” he said in a speech on the House floor. “But one thing I do know is this is happening way too much, and it doesn’t have to be this way.”

Rep. Tracy King, a Democrat who represents Uvalde, filed the raise-the-age bill in response to the Uvalde shooting that left 19 children and two teachers dead. The teenage gunman legally purchased semi-automatic rifles shortly after his 18th birthday, according to officials.

King’s bill makes it illegal to sell, give or loan semi-automatic rifles that are capable of accepting a detachable magazine and have a caliber greater than .22 to anyone younger than 21.

Police officers, members of the military and veterans would be exempt, as would people using the rifles for hunting, competition or at a gun range.

A recent poll by the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin found that a majority of Democrat, Independent and Republican voters support raising the age to 21 for firearm purchases.

Veronica Mata and other Uvalde parents told lawmakers that if the higher age limit were in effect, their children may still be alive.

The fate of the legislation had been in limbo for weeks. While the Select Committee on Community Safety held an overnight hearing in April to consider the legislation, the proposal had languished ever since.

On Monday, the deadline to pass House bills out of committee, protestors flooded the halls of the Capitol chanting “raise the age,” and Democratic state senators held a press conference demanding a vote.

At a hastily called committee meeting that afternoon, there was no debate before the 8-5 vote. Afterward, Rep. Vikki Goodwin, an Austin Democrat, said the next step is to get the bill on the calendar for a full House vote before Thursday’s deadline.

But the bill faces an uphill climb, amid opposition from the Calendars Committee Chairman, Lubbock Rep. Dustin Burrows, who voted against the raise-the-age bill on Monday.

Rep. Ryan Guillen, a Rio Grande City Republican who heads the community safety committee, said the change “doesn’t have the support in the Legislature.” It also faces pushback from key Republicans, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who has questioned the constitutionality of raising the gun -buying age.

In an interview on Sunday about the Allen shooting, Abbott did not entertain gun control measures and said the focus should stay on increasing mental health funding and further penalizing criminals caught with guns.

His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the raise-the-age bill. The legislative session ends on Memorial Day.

Uvalde families have been a constant presence at the Capitol this year.

Wearing shirts and holding signs with photos of their loved ones who were murdered, they’ve held regular news conferences urging legislators to change laws they say enabled the shooter and to hold police accountable for waiting almost an hour to breach the classroom.

The lobbying seems to have had an effect.

Harless said he keeps a picture of Uziyah Garcia, a 10-year-old killed in the Uvalde shooting, on his computer and looks at it “every single day.” The lawmaker cried in the Capitol building when, after the vote, he looked out at Garcia’s parents.

“I vote the way I think is best for my district and my heart,” Harless said. “We see so much tragedy with kids getting shot at school. This is a small change we can make to give a lot of people peace of mind and keep kids safe.”

Holland said raising the age “was the right thing to do.”

“I did not come to the Legislature to take easy votes,” he said. He acknowledged the move will likely be unpopular with some, but said he’s also been flooded with text messages of support.

Holland, who described himself as pro-Second Amendment, said the change can be one piece of many in the puzzle “correcting what we’ve seen over the last few years, but it definitely is not the only thing.”

He did not know the vote would be taken on Monday, a sentiment reflecting the last-minute wrangling to get it on the committee docket.

Guillen initially said he did not plan to hold a vote. Then, House Democrats said they planned to use a legislative tactic to force the bill directly to the floor. Shortly afterward, a lunchtime committee meeting was called.

“You have to not have a soul to come on this floor after everything has happened in this state with mass violence, knowing we have three weeks left, to not use every legislative tool in the box,” said House Democratic Caucus Chair Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio.

In the Senate, Democrats held a press conference Monday morning where they blasted the lack of movement on gun bills in the upper chamber.

Sen. Carol Alvarado, the head of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has not permitted a hearing on any of the 39 gun bills Democrats filed this session in the Senate, which Patrick oversees.

Those bills include proposals to raise the age of purchase for assault style rifles to 21, red flag laws and universal background checks.

“We’re talking about the bare minimum,” Alvarado said. Patrick’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Austin Bureau Correspondent Philip Jankowski contributed to this report.