I’ve been working this session on safety bills and have seen the work make some advances in the law. The Texas Tribune published a great gun safety article that included this portion about the legislative work of Lock Arms for Life.
There has been progress for some gun-related legislation aimed at minimizing mass shootings and rising gun deaths in Texas. Advocates of what many see as sensible gun reform— like promotion of safe gun storage — logged a mix of wins and losses, at times within a matter of hours.
So many bills aimed at addressing gun violence advanced only so far this session. House Bill 690 would have targeted community gun violence through the state’s health department and local violence interruption programs. Senate Bill 912 aimed to curb unintentional shootings by kids by making it a third-degree felony to leave a readily dischargeable firearm accessible to a child who accesses the gun and fires it, wounding or killing another person. House Bill 853, which would designate August as Firearm Safety Awareness Month, was voted out of committee but also did not progress further.
Leesa Ross, a proponent of the awareness month bill, founded the organization Lock Arms for Life after one of her sons died in an accidental firearm discharge. She held out hope because the proposal was added as an amendment to another bill and still has a chance at becoming law.
Parts of a similar proposal — regarding the education of safe gun storage — were ultimately added as an amendment to House Bill 3, a priority school safety bill that the Senate approved Sunday. The bill went back to the House, which must accept the Senate’s version or negotiate the differences before the bill goes to the governor.
“If we don’t even get a gun safety awareness month, I mean what does that say about our state?” Ross asked. “It should not be this way. It should be that we are a community that cares about safety and safety of our families and children, and we want to do everything together.”
The Lock Arms for Life website has a new video on locking semiautomatic handguns. The demonstrator is my son Lance, whose brother Jon died in a gun accident. Lance owns firearms and uses them safely. Jon’s death led to the start of Lock Arms for Life.
