Texas governor to hold school-safety talks

Texas governor Greg Abbott is set to begin a three-day series of discussions with educators and law-enforcement officials on improving school safety on Tuesday, days after a teenager killed 10 people at a Houstonarea high school.

Abbott will meet with two dozen people, including supporters and opponents of arming teachers, following the fourth-deadliest school shooting in 2018 at Santa Fe High School in Texas on Friday.

“I am seeking the best solutions to make our schools more secure and to keep our communities safe,” the governor said. “I look forward to hearing from all sides of the debate and from expert perspectives on these issues.”

Abbott, a Republican, has vowed that any changes to state laws would “protect Second Amendment rights”.

The second amendment of the US Constitution enshrines the right to bear arms. Gun rights proponents say it prohibits regulations on gun ownership and that enforcement of existing laws should be sufficient to stop violent incidents like the one in Santa Fe.

Gun-control groups point to the frequency of shootings across the US as evidence that more needs to be done to rein in the proliferation of weapons.

The US Supreme Court has avoided major gun cases for years, leaving in place restrictions on guns enacted by some states.

In contrast to Florida, where the killing of 17 teens and educators in February sparked a youth-led movement calling for new restrictions on gun ownership, the Texas tragedy saw officials and survivors alike voicing support for gun rights.

Some gun-rights proponents in Texas have embraced the idea of arming teachers, a strategy advocated by the National Rifle Association and US President Donald Trump. That solution is largely rejected by survivors and parents in Parkland, Florida, after the carnage there.

Police arrested Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 17, at the Santa Fe school after the rampage, which they said he committed with a shotgun and .38-calibre pistol. He is charged with capital murder of 10 people — eight students and two teachers.

Police said Pagourtzis had confessed to Friday’s killings after he was taken into custody, but they have offered no motive yet for the massacre.

He was being held without bail, on suicide watch at the Galveston County Jail in nearby Galveston, Sheriff Henry Trochesset said.