DALLAS — More than a dozen mayors representing Texas’ biggest cities — including liberals and conservatives alike — asked Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday to call a special session and usher in legislation that would address guns and mental health.
“We represent a continuum of political ideology and have come together because we know most Texans have a strong desire for common sense reform to protect our children,” the letter said. “As mayors, we believe the legislature and executive leaders can come together to find the right solutions for Texas.”
It cites five specific policies the mayors want addressed, including requiring a universal background check for gun purchases, increasing the age limit to 21 to buy assault rifles, passing red-flag laws, increasing mental-health support funding and increase training for school resource officers.
Those reforms, the mayors wrote, “would have prevented the shooters in El Paso and Uvalde from obtaining their weapons.” The Uvalde gunman legally bought his assault rifle shortly after his 18th birthday, and the mother of the El Paso shooter had called police with concerns about him owning a rifle before the 2019 Walmart massacre.
“Families are asking us how many more shootings must happen before we act,” the letter said. “The communities of Uvalde, El Paso, Santa Fe, and Sutherland Springs deserve better. In response to mass shootings — Florida passed red flag laws, and we can do the same here in Texas.”
The signatories included Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen and Plano Mayor John Muns.
The letter is significant because of its bipartisanship: While they hold nonpartisan offices, both Parker and Muns have described themselves as conservative Republicans.
“Protecting the 2nd Amendment means passing responsible policies that a wide majority of law-abiding gun owners support,” the mayors wrote. “We cannot stand idly by while more of our fellow Texans, often our children and law enforcement officers, are laid to rest as the result of another preventable shooting.”
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