After Mass Killings in Texas, Frustration but No Action on Guns
New York TimesMay 17, 2023
The Facts
A Texas House committee Monday voted 8-5 in favor of a bill that would raise the minimum age to purchase AR-15-style semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21 years old.
Two Republicans joined Democrats on the House Select Committee on Community Safety in passing the measure that had been held from a vote for several weeks and followed a Saturday shooting at a mall in Allen, Texas, that killed eight.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
It took mass protests from angry families to guilt House Republicans to bring this bill to a vote in the committee, and even then, just two Republicans supported it. Although this vote is a great indicator of what can happen when gun-safety supporters make their voices heard, it’s also a clear case of Republicans being beholden to gun lobbyists because the bill won’t get anywhere near enough support to become law.
Republican narrative
Once again, in an effort to place restrictions on Americans’ constitutional right to own guns, Democratic groups are politicizing a tragedy. If the minimum age to purchase a gun had been 21, it still wouldn’t have stopped the mall shooter, who was in his 30s. Restrictions on gun ownership aren't the answer to preventing these tragedies.
