WASHINGTON — Texans joined a push on Capitol Hill with mayors and police chiefs from around the country asking for national legislation to tighten restrictions on firearm purchases, saying such laws would prevent mass shootings.

"The 911 calls don't come into the Senate, they don't come into the Congress, they come into the police chiefs and mayors," said Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, speaking at a U.S. Conference of Mayors news conference on Monday. "It's not the Congress that shows up. By the time they get there, the blood has been cleaned up and the bodies have been removed."

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and her city's interim Police Chief Ed Kraus joined Acevedo at the news conference as the group called for a universal background check system on firearms purchases and "red flag" laws that allow law enforcement to seize firearms from people deemed dangerous.

"We need the federal government to get involved in this," Price said. "What Chief (Kraus) needs is a database that covers everybody, not just Texas."

The group began its push on the first day back from summer recess for the U.S. House and Senate. Several deadly mass shootings — including ones in El Paso and Odessa — occurred during the recess.

Earlier in the day, the group met with member's of President Donald Trump's staff at the White House and they'll meet with members of Congress tomorrow.

Bryan K. Barnett, mayor of Rochester Hills, Mich., and president of the mayor's conference, said the group was positively received at the White House, but they weren't given any indication if the president was planning on supporting any specific legislation.

The press conference comes three days after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told The Dallas Morning News he's "willing to take an arrow" and defy the National Rifle Association by pressing the Texas Legislature to tighten background-check laws.

Patrick called it "common sense" during the Friday interview for a background check to be mandatory during stranger-to-stranger gun sales.

A little over an hour before the mayors' press conference, Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, joined House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring legislation to the Senate floor that would tighten federal gun laws.

Escobar said there must be universal background checks for all gun purchases, saying there would be "more blood on the streets in Texas, more blood on the hands of those who choose not to take action" if the Senate delayed.

Escobar also told The News that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott needs to "immediately" call a special session of the legislature in order to pass universal background checks in light of Lt. Gov. Patrick's support for such a bill.

Acevedo also said the Texas Legislature needs to be convened to address mass shootings, but Price and Kraus said the federal government should take the lead on the issue so that any background check law covers every state in the country.

Senate Republicans have begun voicing support for red flag laws. Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut are drafting a bipartisan bill that would create a federal grant program to assist and encourage states to pass red flag laws.

But Democrats have said red flag laws alone won't be enough to address mass shootings and must be paired with legislation creating universal background checks.

Many speakers in both of Monday's news conferences pointed to broad public support for universal background checks and red flag laws.

Two separate polls released Monday morning by ABC News/Washington Post and Monmouth University showed national support for universal background checks and red flag laws, as well as a national ban on the future purchase of assault weapons.

The polls split regarding a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons. The ABC News/Washington Post poll showed 52 percent of respondents favored mandatory buybacks, and the Monmouth University poll showed 53 percent of respondents opposing such a program.