Texas lawmakers on Monday voted a bill out of committee that would raise the legal age to buy an assault-style weapon to 21.
In a remarkable turn of events, a bipartisan committee of the Texas State Legislature voted to advance a bill raising the minimum age to purchase AR-15-style rifles.
The preliminary vote was remarkable in a State Capitol dominated by Republicans, all the more so because it had been entirely unexpected, according to the New York Times.
As recently as 10 a.m. Monday, Rio Grande City Republican Rep. Ryan Guillen, who chairs the 13-member committee where the bill was pending, had said he was not planning to bring the bill up for a vote because he didn’t believe it had the votes to pass in the full House.
Monday also happened to be the last day the measure could be advanced out of the committee for a floor vote before the legislative session ends on May 29.
The bill would raise the legal age to buy an assault-style weapon to 21, as well as prohibit firearm sales to those who are intoxicated or who have a protective order against them.
However, the killing of 8 people, including several children, at a shopping center in Allen, Texas, on Saturday had left many lawmakers raw and emotional.
The shooting, by a man with an AR-15-style rifle, came just over a week after the killing of five people by their neighbor with an AR-15-style rifle in a home north of Houston, and just shy of a year after 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle in Uvalde, Texas.
Additionally, an 11 a.m. news conference and emotional protest by the Uvalde families and gun control activists on Monday helped to change the course of the legislation. They pleaded with lawmakers to bring the legislation to the floor.
“It was the most emotional vote I’ve ever taken, and I started crying after I made it,” said State Representative Sam Harless, a Republican from the Houston area who voted to keep the bill moving toward the House floor. “That means my heart told me I made the right vote.”
So the bill will advance to the full House. However, Gov. Greg Abbott has said he believes the measure is unconstitutional. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan has previously said he would be willing to let a debate on the bill play out on the House floor but cautioned that he doesn’t believe it has the votes to pass the House.
The bill will not immediately come before the full House. It first must be put on the calendar, and little time remains. The last day for the House to pass its own bills is Thursday.
