Uvalde victim’s sister pleads for gun safety
AUSTIN, TEXAS — The sister of a 9-year-old girl killed in the Uvalde school rampage tearfully pleaded Thursday with Texas lawmakers to pass gun safety legislation and questioned why so many security measures failed.
“I’m here begging for you guys to do something,” said Jazmin Cazares, 17, whose sister Jacklyn was one of 19 children killed in the 80 minutes the gunman spent inside Robb Elementary School on May 24 before police stormed the classroom and killed him. Two teachers also were killed.
“People who were supposed to keep her safe at school didn’t,” she said through sniffles. “They failed.”
Her testimony came just as the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision allowing a major expansion of gun rights, saying that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public.
Cazares told lawmakers looking at how to prevent mass shootings that they could honor the victims by adopting gun background checks and “red flag laws” that allow for the removal of firearms from people at extreme risk of harming themselves or others.
The gunman was a former student, Salvador Ramos, who days after turning 18 bought the AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle he used in the attack.
The GOP-controlled legislature has stripped away gun restrictions over the past decade even as the state has suffered through a string of mass shootings in that killed over 85 people since 2017
Texas doesn’t require a permit to carry a long rifle like the one used in Uvalde. Last year, lawmakers made it legal for anyone 21 and older to carry a handgun in public without a license, background check or training.