The new bill will make it easier for authorities to verify the background of gun buyers under the age of 21.
Austin (CBSNewsTexas.com) A new bill in the Texas Legislature will make it easier for the federal government to identify individuals between the ages of 18 and 20 who should not be allowed to buy guns.
Following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalda last May, Congress passed a bill backed by Senator John Cornyn that would require the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, to conduct more thorough screening of gun takers in custody. age 21 years.
Authorities are looking for anyone 16 years of age or older who received court-ordered mental health care or was institutionalized due to mental retardation or mental illness as part of a felony hearing.
But a report released by the Texas House Legislative Committee in January showed that federal authorities are having difficulty verifying the backgrounds of children under 21.
He noted, “The problem is that Texas does not have a central source of information about mental health court decisions in juvenile cases statewide.”
This information is now held by 450 county and county officials across Texas.
A recently introduced bill would require these employees to submit appropriate medical records to the Texas DPS.
Flo Rice was a substitute teacher who survived the fatal 2018 Santa Fe High School shooting.
He supports the new state bill. “There are a lot of things that need to be fixed. We will never fix them all; every step in the right direction to save lives counts. Every little step.”
Her husband Scott agrees. “It can speed up the process and maybe someone won’t fall.”
The law was approved last week by the Senate State Affairs Committee.
The bill’s author, State Senator Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said: “These changes to mental health records for children aged 16 and over are simply in line with federal law, and yet they were once intended to provide more thorough background checks. data and thus to ensure that our schools and communities are safer.”
At a hearing last Thursday, Dr. Lauren Gamble of the Texas Medical Association said many doctors support the bill. “In Texas, we have doctors on both sides of the firearms debate, but we are united in our desire to prevent death and injury from firearms.”
Martha Constant, co-owner of Target Masters in Garland, supports the state’s efforts to make it easier for officials to conduct additional background checks on individuals aged 18 to 20. “At this point, they may not need a weapon, and it may take a little longer, a little more time, before they are ready to mentally take responsibility for owning a weapon.”
He said he hoped steps would be taken to protect children’s information. “They must not be mistakenly transferred, leaked or left unattended in any way.”
Huffman’s bill now passes the entire Senate.
The state’s Democratic lawmakers have proposed more bills calling for greater gun restrictions but have faced an uphill battle given the majority of Republicans in the legislature.
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