GOP squelches prospects for “red flag” gun law

Texas won’t be tightening restrictions on gun access anytime soon

AUSTIN, TEXAS» Texas schools have been adding metal detectors and armed personnel in an effort to improve campus security in response to the deadly May attack at a Houston-area high school that left eight students and two teachers dead.

Among the steps that Texas apparently won’t be taking anytime soon is tightening restrictions on gun access for people deemed dangerous to themselves or oth- ers.

In the aftermath of the May 18 attack at Santa Fe High School, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott suggested that Texas should look for ways to keep guns away from people who pose “an immediate danger to others,” which is the point of so-called red flag laws like those passed by six states since the February massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

But faced with criticism from gun enthusiasts in the country’s largest conservative state, Abbott — who gets top ratings from the National Rifle Association — later clarified that he was only suggesting such laws be part of a broader conversation about school security and that he thinks there’s growing opposition to the idea of gun restrictions. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Texas Senate, was even more forceful.

“I have never supported these policies, nor has the majority of the Texas Senate,” he said minutes after the last in a series of state Senate hearings on gun violence.

The one-two punch by the state’s top Republicans drew cheers from gun rights advocates in a state that has more than 1.2 million handgun license holders and allows the open carry in public of handguns and long rifles.

While they vary from state to state, red flag laws generally allow law enforcement or family members to ask a judge to order the seizure or surrender of guns from someone who is deemed dangerous, often because of mental health concerns or threats of violence. About a dozen states have red flag laws, including Republican-led Florida, which passed its law following the Parkland school attack.

Texas can deny a handgun license based on a person’s mental health history, but that restriction applies to the license to carry a handgun, not buying one. The state can seize weapons from people determined to be in a mental crisis in some circumstances.

Some gun rights activists worry that expanding red flag laws would allow the government to seize someone’s guns based on the suspicion of a threat or a false report without that person having acted violently.