'We don't just want thoughts and prayers. We want legislators to take action and for them to say enough is enough.'
. They have been continuously advocating against Gov. Greg Abbott's gun laws with each new incident, they say.
"We have the most permissible gun laws in the country," said Rochelle Garza, a former ACLU lawyer who is running for attorney general in Texas. "These policies that we've got are failing our communities, are failing our people and the leadership that we have right now is not doing anything about it."
In 2021, Abbott made it legal for "law-abiding Texans" to carry handguns without a license or training and also loosened restrictions on handguns based on age. "We as a state, we as a society need to do a better job with mental health," Abbott said. "Anybody who shoots somebody else has a mental health challenge. Period. We as a government need to find a way to target that mental health challenge and to do something about it."
Latinos in favor of gun reform are calling for "universal background checks, closing related loopholes, and a ban on assault weapons," said Janet Murguía, the president and CEO of Latino civil rights organization UnidosUS.Hispanics are disproportionately affected by firearms violence in the United States, according to the research organization
The Harris County Democratic Party has called for Abbott to schedule a special legislative session to address the state’s lack of gun restrictions following the Uvalde shooting.
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