Texas leaders at odds over gun control following Santa Fe high school shooting

Show Caption Hide Caption Funeral services held for Texas shooting victim On Sunday funeral services were held for 17-year-old Pakistani exchange student Sabika Sheikh, who had been attending Santa Fe High School since last August when she was killed Friday in a shooting. (May 20)

SANTA FE, Texas — Texas leaders were starting off a difficult week Monday following the Santa Fe High School shooting that left 10 dead by staking out vastly different positions on the future of gun control in the state and the nation.

During a series of interviews over the weekend, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo were at odds over a solution, with Patrick warning against a legislative overreaction against law-abiding gun owners and Acevedo complaining that thoughts and prayers were not enough.

Patrick gave a long list of reasons that led to Friday's shooting, including violent video games, the elimination of religion from public schools, abortion, the breakdown of families, unarmed teachers and the design of schools that includes too many entrances. But he stressed that guns were not to blame, explaining that they are "part of who we are as a nation."

"We have 50 million abortions. We have families that are broken apart, no fathers at home," Patrick said, according to CNN. "We have incredible heinous violence as a (video) game, two hours a day in front of their eyes. And we stand here and we wonder why this happens to certain students."

Acevedo, a 32-year law enforcement officer who previously led the California Highway Patrol and the Austin Police Department, said it would be irresponsible to ignore the role of gun laws in school shootings that continue to plague the nation. In the Santa Fe shooting, he said there should be a way to punish the father of Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, the accused shooter who used his dad's shotgun and .38 revolver to carry out the attack.

"We need to start using the ballot box and ballot initiatives to take the matters out of the hands of people that are doing nothing that are elected into the hands of the people to see that the will of the people in this country is actually carried out," Acevedo told CBS' Face the Nation.

With many in Texas taking such divergent stances, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tried to bridge the gap by starting a series of roundtable discussions in the state Capitol of Austin and in communities around the state.

The first series will take place in Austin on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In statement released Monday, the discussions will include a variety of participants, including students, parents, legislators, law enforcement, mental health experts, school administrators that participate in the state's school marshal program and "interest groups that advocate for and against further gun regulations."

"I am seeking the best solutions to make our schools more secure and to keep our communities safe," Abbott said in a statement. "I look forward to hearing from all sides of the debate, and from expert perspectives on these issues."

"We want to hear from parents, we want to hear from students, we want to hear from educators, we want to hear from concerned citizens, we want to hear from those who hold the Second Amendment right in high esteem," Abbott said during a news conference on Sunday. "We want to hear from everybody."

A group of teenagers urged him to do more, staging a "die-in" outside Abbott's residence in Austin. Several of them laid down on the ground as if they were dead for 23 minutes — one minute for each school shooting in the U.S. this year, according to KXAN TV.

As Texas leaders debated how to move forward, the Santa Fe community is looking back at the lives of those lost in the massacre.

On Monday, people throughout the region held a moment of silence at 10 a.m. CST to honor the victims. Students at schools throughout Houston stood and bowed their heads. Nurses and doctors did the same at Clear Lake Regional Medical Center, where many of the victims were treated following the shooting.

And several dozen people stood silent outside Santa Fe High School next to a row of crosses representing each of the victims.

The first funeral for a victim took place Sunday when Sabika Sheikh, 17, a Pakistani exchange student, was honored at a service organized by The Islamic Society for Greater Houston.

About 80 students also packed into Arcadia First Baptist Church for an annual baccalaureate service. Aaron Chenoweth had a very different speech planned to deliver to his Santa Fe High School classmates, but then God stepped in.

"I did a lot of praying before I came, and I'll be honest with you, all the things I thought about were not the things I said," Chenoweth said. "It was all according to His plan; that's what I felt tonight."

The faith community of Santa Fe hosts the baccalaureate service every year. But this time, the graduates they were sending off to their next venture had just endured what was referred to as "pure evil" only a few days before.

Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady told the students that he was well aware of the suffering they were enduring. But he urged them to continue fighting and lead a life they can be proud of.

"You're entering a war zone, a spiritual war zone," Roady said. "We know there will be times like this."