Ending Gun Violence in Texas

In the past two decades, the Texas Legislature has approved more than 100 harmful firearm bills while gun deaths have steadily risen

By: Nicole Golden

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, Texas ranks 32nd in the nation for the strength of its gun laws.

Not only have Texas lawmakers repeatedly loosened gun laws in the wake of mass shootings in Sante Fe, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, and Uvalde, but the rate of firearm deaths in Texas rose 46% from 2012 to 2022. Just under 4,000 people on average die every year in Texas due to gun violence. Texas lacks comprehensive policies that would make our communities safer and reduce the prevalence of daily gun violence and mass shootings.

In 2015, the Texas Legislature voted to allow Texans to openly carry handguns in most public spaces, as well as to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Then in 2021, the Texas Legislature enacted permitless carry, allowing individuals 21 and over to carry firearms openly or concealed without a license. The passage of these laws and a host of others have significantly reduced safety in Texas.

In fact, in the past two decades, the Texas Legislature has approved more than 100 harmful firearm bills while gun deaths have steadily risen.

Gun violence in Texas dangerously impacts children and teenagers. Firearms are now the leading cause of death for young people, surpassing car accidents.

Compounding this issue, Texas lacks comprehensive safe gun storage laws that protect homes and communities. Everytown reports that in 2023, Texas saw 36 unintentional shootings by children. While Texas does have a Child Access Prevention law, it only applies to minors under 17, and only penalizes adults whose guns are loaded when they are accessed by children.

Black Texans are disproportionately impacted by gun violence in Texas. Although Black people make up 12.2% of the Texas population, they compromise 45% of homicide victims in the state. Black Texans are also 6x more likely to die from gun homicide than white Texans.

Investing in Community Violence Intervention (CVI) programs at the federal, local, and state level can enable these communities to expand proven strategies for intervening in the cycle of violence where it is most needed.

While many localities in Texas are investing in CVI and even establishing offices of violence prevention, the state has not put adequate funding into these programs nor established a statewide office of violence prevention to support and coordinate these efforts.

Firearms make domestic violence significantly more dangerous and deadly nationwide and in Texas.

According to the Texas Council on Family Violence’s 2022 Honoring Texas Victims report, firearms accounted for the means of death in over 70% of intimate partner homicides in the state, including 18 people who were murdered by a prohibited possessor (the actual number is likely higher).

Domestic violence experts and gun safety advocates have worked to improve state laws to ensure that domestic abusers are not easily able to possess firearms, including pushing for a comprehensive statewide protocol for relinquishment of firearms for domestic abusers and closing loopholes between state and federal laws. The Legislature has not enacted these efforts despite a clear need for change.

Suicide is another critical piece of the gun violence epidemic in Texas that often gets overlooked. Suicide accounts for 58% of gun deaths in Texas, and Texas veterans used a firearm to commit suicide approximately 73% of the time. In 2020, for the first time, a firearm was used to complete suicide by Texas youth more than 50% of the time.

Safe storage education and awareness, stronger safe storage laws, and the availability of out-of-home gun storage can help reduce these devastating statistics for young people, veterans, and others at risk.

Texas has experienced some of the most high-profile mass shootings in recent years. In many cases, there is a direct relationship between these tragic events and policies that could have prevented them. Safe storage laws could have prevented Santa Fe. Raising the age to 21 for semi-automatic rifles could have prevented Uvalde. An Extreme Risk Protection Order could have averted El Paso. Stronger background checks could have prevented Midland-Odessa.     

Creating a safer Texas includes passing comprehensive gun safety legislation and honoring survivors of gun violence. Many survivors have come to the Texas Capitol to share their searingly painful stories with lawmakers and to advocate for legislation that honors their loved ones, only to be discouraged by lack of action.

Last session, parents and other family members whose loved ones were murdered in Uvalde came to the Capitol near weekly. They waited hours and hours to testify for a bill to raise the age to 21 to purchase certain types of semi-automatic rifles, like the AR-15 used to kill students and teachers at Robb Elementary. While the bill passed out of committee with an 8-5 bipartisan vote — an unprecedented success for survivors and advocates — state leaders stalled the bill. Polls show that the majority of Texans continue to support this policy, including 64% of Republican voters.

Despite years of political paralysis, gun safety advocates in Texas have had some success moving the needle.

Last session, Texas Gun Sense and partners, including doctors, gun owners, and parents, successfully advanced a policy requiring school districts to share secure gun storage information with parents and guardians, making Texas only one of a few states to adopt this legislation. This builds on prior success spreading safe gun storage awareness through the Keep ‘Em Safe, Texas statewide website.

We know that in Texas, the path toward comprehensive gun safety reform is a long and incremental one, but one to which Texas Gun Sense and its partners are firmly committed. As we continue to grow our coalition, empower youth, engage Texans across the state, and hold lawmakers accountable, we can build a road to a safer Texas.

Join us at txgunsense.org.

Nicole Golden, via Texas Gun Sense

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Nicole Golden is the Executive Director at Texas Gun Sense.

Flag image by Janet Reddick from Pixabay.