Texas’s Republican governor is refusing to recall the state legislature to consider measures to tackle gun violence - even though it only meets every other year.

In the aftermath of a spate of shootings in places such as El Paso and Midland in which up to 30 people were killed and dozens injured, Democrats urged governor Greg Abbott to recall legislators to pass legislation to address the problem.

In an open letter, Democratic members of the legislature proposed measures that would close loopholes on background checks for gun purchases, and ban the sale of large capacity magazines. They also called for laws to seek to confront racism and white nationalism, given the alleged assailant in the El Paso shooting was “driven by racial hatred”.

Mr Abbott, the only person empowered to recall the legislature, has not ruled out doing so, but has rejected calls to act immediately.

Democrats have criticised the governor’s decision, pointing out he was happy to do so in 2017 amid controversy over which lavatories transgender people should be permitted to use, and the fact that under the state’s constitution, the legislature only sits every other year. The 86th session, which started on January 8, ended on May 28, and legislators are not scheduled to sit again until January 12 2021.

El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Show all 39 1 /39 El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store CCTV images of the gunman identified as Patrick Crusius The 21 year old, as he entered the Cielo Vista Walmart store in El Paso. The gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on shoppers at a packed Walmart store, killing 20. KTSM 9/AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement agencies respond The Texas city’s police chief said the assault on a Walmart store on Saturday, which left another 26 people wounded, was being investigated as a potential hate crime. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up Shoppers exit with their hands up after a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Salgado NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. STRINGER Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store FBI released a picture of gunman Patrick Crusius The police officially identified the 21-year-old white male from Allen, Texas, a Dallas suburb some 650 miles east of El Paso. FBI/AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman reacts after the mass shooting The attack came just minutes after a far-right manifesto appeared online. If authentic, it would make it the third mass shooting this year announced in advance on the website, which often features far-right and racist content. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Law enforcement responds to the active shooter The racist four-page document, titled “The Inconvenient Truth”, calls the Walmart attack “a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas” and expresses support for the gunman who killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A shopper hiding with an old lady behind the return and exchanges counter as the shooting began. Aaron Castaneda/Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Ambulances in the car park near the scene It is ranked as the eighth-deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, after a 1984 shooting in San Ysidro, California, that claimed 21 lives. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Kendall Long (left) comforts Kianna Long (right) who was in the freezer section of Walmart. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store epa07755367 Police stand at attention after a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, USA, 03 August 2019. According to reports, at least one person was killed and at least 18 people injured and transported to local hospitals. One suspect is in custody. EPA/IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shoppers exit with their hands up. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Shopping carts sit next to a curb after the shooting. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store El Paso Fire Medical personnel arrive at the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Walmart employees react after. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A woman runs to police near the scene. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Several law enforcement agencies respond. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People arrive at MacArthur Elementary looking for family and friends as the school is being used a re-unification centre. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Residents Erica Rios, 36, and Alma Rios, 61, cry outside a reunification centre. AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People gather in Juarez, Mexico, in a vigil for the Mexican nationals who were killed. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A child takes part in a vigil in Ciudad Juarez AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Francisco Castaneda joins mourners taking part in a vigil at El Paso High School. Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Presidential candidate and former congressman Beto O'Rourke, right, meets with mass shooting survivor, Rosemary, at University Medical Centre Beto O'Rourke Facebook via AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store From left, Melody Stout, Hannah Payan, Aaliyah Alba, Sherie Gramlich and Laura Barrios comfort each other during a vigil for victims of the shooting. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A sign is posted near the scene Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Police cars parked below the Walmart sign block a road outside while investigating. EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Sherie Gramlich reacts during a vigil. AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store A man places flowers at the site Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at the Walmart store Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Lupe Lopez holds a picture of a victim during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People take part in a rally against hate a day after a mass shooting at a Walmart store, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. August 4, 2019. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez JOSE LUIS GONZALEZ REUTERS El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Elsa Mendoza Marquez, a Mexican schoolteacher who was married and the mother of two adult children, was one of the victims Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People with the Mexican flag and the US flag take part in a rally against hate a day Reuters El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People raise their arms in the air during a vigil for victims AP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react and embrace each other Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Women light candles at a make shift memorial at the site of a mass shooting EPA El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Adria Gonzalez (centre) who is being hailed as a hero for leading some Walmart customers to safety, speaks to the crowd AFP/Getty El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People hold up their phones AFP/Getty Images El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd AFP El Paso mass shooting: 20 killed at Walmart store People react during a prayer and candle vigil organized by the city, after a shooting left 20 people dead at the Cielo Vista Mall WalMart in El Paso, Texas, on August 4, 2019. - A shooting at a Walmart store in Texas left multiple people dead. At least one suspect was taken into custody after the shooting in the border city of El Paso, triggering fear and panic among weekend shoppers as well as widespread condemnation. It was the second fatal shooting in less than a week at a Walmart store in the US and comes after a mass shooting in California last weekend. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images MARK RALSTON AFP/Getty

“We only sit for 140 days, every other year,” Donna Howard, a Democratic legislator who represents a district in Austin, the state’s liberal-leaning capital, told The Independent. “The message we have been hearing from our constituents is ‘Please come back into session and do something’.”

Texas is not alone in having a legislature that only sits every other year, but the three other states that operate such a system – Nevada, North Dakota and Montana – all have small populations.

By contrast, the population of Texas is 28m, and it is the second largest and second most populous of the 50 states, after California. It also has the second highest number of presidential electoral college votes. Political scientists say while the decision to only meet every other year may initially have been made because of the vast distances legislators were required to travel, it underscored an antipathy among many Texans towards politics and politicians.

The last Democratic president to win Texas was Jimmy Carter in 1976, and the party has not held a statewide seat since the 1990s. Yet, Democrats made gains in the 2018 midterms and believe they could flip more seats in the House of Representatives in 2020. The party also hopes to take control of the state legislature, which plays a crucial role in drawing up electoral districts, which in recent years have heavily favoured Republicans.

Mr Abbott’s office said he had not ruled out recalling the legislature, though he wanted to avoid a session that resulted only in arguing.

Hundreds of people attend El Paso shooting victim Margie Reckard's funeral

He recently announced eight executive orders focused on strengthening the police’s ability to respond to shootings. According to the Texas Tribune, following the shootings, he also established two groups to study gun violence and extremism.

“Governor Abbott made clear in Odessa that all strategies are on the table that will lead to laws that make Texans safer,” said spokesperson, John Wittman.

“The Democrats who are part of today’s partisan pitch, can be part of the bipartisan legislative process…that is geared towards achieving real solutions, or they can be part of politics as usual that will accomplish nothing.”

Critics of Mr Abbott, who has a “triple A” rating from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), a gun industry and users lobbying group, say he has been slow to address gun violence, and blocked efforts to regulate firearms. After the El Paso shooting, he described the incident as one of the of the “deadliest days in history of Texas”.

The Giffords Law Centre to Prevent Gun Violence, a California group that works to regulate guns, says Texas has some of the nation’s most relaxed gun regulations. The group says research shows states with tougher laws suffer fewer shooting deaths.

It ranks Texas as having the 34th strongest gun laws out of 50, and places it at 27 in terms of gun deaths. It ranks it with an “F”.

“Texas did not enact any firearm-related legislation in 2018. The state has very weak gun safety laws and is a major exporter of crime guns,” says the group. “To raise its grade above an F and save lives from gun violence, Texas should pass universal background checks, prohibit hate crime offenders from accessing guns, and repeal its dangerous campus carry law.”

Veteran observers of Texas politics say there may be other reasons Mr Abbott does not want to recall the legislature. Last month, the Republican speaker, Dennis Bonnen, was caught on tape apparently asking a far right activist, Michael Quinn Sullivan, to help undermine some of his own colleagues. Mr Bonnen has issued an apology, but the Texas Rangers have launched a probe.

Harvey Kronberg, publisher of the Quorum Report, a widely read website that focusses on Texas state politics, said: “One of the reasons Abbott doesn’t want to do it, is that if the legislature is recalled, Bonnen may be forced from the chair.”

Janet and Michael Hoffman, who were visiting Austin from New Jersey, which has some of the nation’s tougher gun laws, were recently walking in the grounds of the domed Capitol building. They said Texans had a reputation for their outsized love of guns.