Support for Gun Safety Grows as Texas Lawmakers Plan to Meet in Odessa

Tomorrow, volunteers with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action in Permian Basin will testify at a Texas Senate Select Committee on Mass Violence hearing in Odessa. If you’d like to connect with a volunteer before or after the hearing, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

A new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll found that 81 percent of Texas registered voters strongly support background checks on all gun sales, including 74 percent of Republicans. Most voters also support a strong red flag law. This poll was conducted in February, before mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa. 

From the Republican Mayors of El Paso, Odessa and Midland to longtime NRA ally Lt. Gov. Patrick, conservative lawmakers continue to lend their support to strengthening background checks. The latest is State Rep. Sarah Davis (R-Houston), who voiced support for background checks on Twitter over the weekend. 

Tomorrow’s hearing in Texas comes in the wake of last night’s Virginia elections, in which voters flipped both houses of the state legislature and lawmakers who refused to act on gun safety during a special session following the shooting at Virginia Beach were ousted from their seats in the statehouse. Last night’s elections prove that gun safety is a leading issue for voters across the political spectrum, in both red and blue states.