IN WEAPONS-OBSESSED TEXAS
33,000 lives lost a year So simple to get weapons
in Dallas, open carry caused chaos. The triggers for the protest were the police shootings of black men Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge.
The group’s peaceful protests in open carry states are hijacked by legally armed groups such as the New Black Panther Party.
Confusion
When Johnson ambushed Dallas police there were up to 30 protesters there with semi- automatic weapons and body armour. It took 24 hours for police to realise a lone shooter was behind the attack.
Julie said: “These are the same people who show up at protests calling for everyone to carry guns – but they still fled. If that is their reason for having them that incident should have ended earlier. Those activists caused confusion and helped the shooter.”
For Julie the killings were another brutal reminder of the need for change. In Texas, Republican and Democrat politicians are pro-gun. Last year, activists threatened a Texan governor who wanted to delay legislation on open carry of all handguns.
Julie works as a private tutor for high school children, which she fits around her activism in lobbying politicians at state level.
She regularly visits the state capitol in Austin to draft reports and give advocacy for bills relating to gun control. But in a huge blow to her efforts a bill to allow concealed guns on Texan university campuses comes in to force on August 1 – the 50th anniversary of the University of Texas massacre, in which Charles Whitman, 25, killed 14 people in Austin.
Julie, a director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, said: “We can’t help wondering if the date is deliberate. It was the first large- scale campus shooting. Students got their hunting rifles to shoot back. Police didn’t know who the shooter was. The same thing happened in Dallas recently.”
Julie has a tattoo on her torso of a Raven flying away from a bullet hole to symbolise her quest. And MORE than 33,000 people in the US are killed by guns every year – with a mass shooting more than once a day on average. Around 10,000 are murdered with a gun while 20,000 die in gun-related suicides. Data for the latest available year, 2015, show 372 mass shootings – single incidents that kill or injure four or more – killing 475 and wounded 1,870. Dylann Roof, 21, killed nine in the Charleston church shooting last year. He told police he wanted to spark a race war. In December 2015, 14 people were killed and 22 injured in a terrorist attack by married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in San Bernardino, California. And last month 49 were killed and 53 wounded by Omar Mateen at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida. TEXAS has no laws on owning long guns, including shotguns and semi-automatic rifles, for over-18s. Anyone 21 and over with no relevant criminal convictions can own a handgun. Criminals can keep a handgun at home from five years after they were convicted or freed, if jailed.A Licence To Carry is required for a handgun in public. Open carry of them was illegal until January. the events of recent weeks may start to turn the he tide for her. In the aftermath of thehe Dallas shootings, pro- gun mayor yor Mike Rawlings suggested he may be open to her demand for a ban on assault rifles at public gatherings. erings.
Julie said: “I’mI’m hoping this will bring about better dialogue with lawmakers. I never thought there would be a quick solution but I thought therere would be a solution in myy lifetime.
“I’ve now concludoncluded it will take generations. I hopepe this is a turningg point.”