Texas Democrats tout bipartisan support for gun storage safety bills

An American Security gun safe in stock in March 2018 at Bob's Unfinished Furniture and Gun Exchange in Darien, Conn. Texas Democrats touted a slew of gun safety-related bills Tuesday, including some with bipartisan support that would enact criminal penalties for gun owners who fail to safely store their weapons at home and launch a public awareness campaign around gun safety. less An American Security gun safe in stock in March 2018 at Bob's Unfinished Furniture and Gun Exchange in Darien, Conn. Texas Democrats touted a slew of gun safety-related bills Tuesday, including some with ... more Photo: Alexander Soule, Business Reporter / Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Alexander Soule, Business Reporter / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas Democrats tout bipartisan support for gun storage safety bills 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Democrats in the Texas House and Senate who are pushing for an assortment of gun control measures have found Republican allies for bills that would enact criminal penalties for gun owners who fail to safely store their weapons at home, and that would launch a state awareness campaign around gun safety.

“Bringing attention to safely storing firearms can save lives and just might have saved the life of my dad,” said Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, a co-sponsor of the awareness campaign bill, at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday.

In 1990, Goodwin said, a burglar shot and killed her father with a gun he found in the home. “Had that gun been in a gun safe, he might still be here today,” she said.

Several bills also would increase criminal penalties for failing to store firearms out of the reach of children, as required by state law. Others would eliminate taxes on firearm safety equipment and related materials.

Lawmakers said they are hopeful that after mass shootings at a high school in Santa Fe and at a church in Sutherland Springs, they have more bipartisan support than ever before, especially on the gun storage measures.

Improving gun storage laws was one of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s main recommendations out of roundtable discussions he convened last spring after the shootings.

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Republican Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land, joined with Democrats as a co-sponsor of the awareness campaign bill in the House. And Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, is sponsoring one of the bills increasing penalties for leaving firearms accessible to children.

“I’m very optimistic about the support that I’m seeing among my colleagues for getting past the political knee-jerk reactions to this and looking at what really makes sense,” Donna Howard, D-Austin, said. “So I’m very hopeful that we’re going to see some movement this session.”

Howard said nearly 200,000 children in Texas live in homes with unlocked, loaded guns, according to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In just the last two weeks, she said, three Texas children have been injured or killed after being accidentally shot by another child in the family. Two of the three shootings occurred in the Houston area.

In mid-March, KPRC-TV reported that two 16-year-old cousins were playing with a gun when one of them accidentally shot and killed the other in Klein, Texas. Later that week, KHOU reported that a 16-year-old boy was showing his 14-year-old cousin a gun and accidentally shot and injured her in Katy, Texas.

And last week, NBC DFW reported that a 3-year old accidentally shot and injured his 5-year-old brother in Dallas.

“In our state and our country, we believe in the right to bear arms,” Howard said. “However, that right comes with the great responsibility of ensuring that others who may cause harm, either intentionally or unintentionally, to themselves or others, do not have access to those guns.”

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Democrats also plugged bills Tuesday that would close the gun show loophole by requiring sellers to background check potential buyers who don’t already have a handgun license.

Others would allow higher education institutions to opt out of the 2015 campus carry law that allows licensed gun owners to carry concealed handguns in most buildings at public universities.