1 year after school shooting, Texas halts tougher gun laws

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2019 file photo Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the Santa Fe High School student accused of killing 10 people in a May 18, 2018 shooting at the high school, is escorted by Galveston County Sheriff's Office deputies into the jury assembly room for a change of venue hearing at the Galveston County Courthouse in Galveston, Texas. A year after the high school mass shooting near Houston that remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, Texas lawmakers are close to going home without passing any new gun restrictions, or even tougher firearm storage laws that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had backed after the tragedy. (Jennifer Reynolds/The Galveston County Daily News via AP, Pool, File) less FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2019 file photo Dimitrios Pagourtzis, the Santa Fe High School student accused of killing 10 people in a May 18, 2018 shooting at the high school, is escorted by Galveston County ... more Photo: Jennifer Reynolds, Associated Press Photo: Jennifer Reynolds, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close 1 year after school shooting, Texas halts tougher gun laws 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN, Texas — A year after a high school mass shooting near Houston that remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, Texas lawmakers are poised to go home without passing any new gun restrictions, or even tougher firearm storage laws that Gov. Greg Abbott backed after the tragedy.

A Republican governor pushing even a small restriction on firearms kept at home in gun-friendly Texas was a landmark shift after two decades of loosening weapons regulations. And it put Texas in line with other states exploring ways to prevent not just mass shootings, but thousands of lethal gun incidents involving minors.

But the state’s effort was met with a swift and severe rebuke from gun-rights advocates who have all but killed the issue. The anniversary of the shooting at Santa Fe High School is Saturday.

“I saw my friend and co-worker killed,” Flo Rice, a Santa Fe substitute teacher who was shot five times that day, told lawmakers. “Had stricter gun laws been in place, maybe the shooter’s father would have had his guns locked up, 10 lives would have been spared. ... It is too late for Santa Fe, but maybe this bill will save other children’s lives.”

Her words had little impact. In the final two weeks of the legislative session, Texas lawmakers are instead moving toward arming more school personnel, boosting campus security measures and mental health services for teenagers. Those also were ideas from Abbott, who has gone silent on the issue of gun storage safety since first proposing it.

“It’s really sad,” said Ed Scruggs of Texas Gun Sense. “Here we are coming up on the one year anniversary and they’re not doing anything but putting more guns in schools and hardening school sites. And this was something that could have applied directly to a situation like Santa Fe.”

Police have alleged the Santa Fe shooter, a student at the school, used his father’s shotgun and handgun to kill eight students and two substitute teachers. Thirteen others were wounded.

Within days, Abbott held a series of roundtable discussions on school violence with victims and gun rights and gun control advocates. Ideas that emerged included increasing the penalty for gun owners — from a misdemeanor to a felony — when minors take and use their firearms to harm or kill someone. Texas has no requirement that all firearms be locked up.

The blowback was almost immediate. Gun rights groups insisted firearms must be kept easily available for self-defense.

“I will fight it forever,” Rep. Jonathan Stickland, a Republican, tweeted hours after Abbott first backed tighter gun storage laws.

Jim Vertuno is an Associated Press writer.