The gunman was killed by authorities according to the Associated Press.
(Courtesy PBS NewsHour)
On Tuesday May 24th, a gunman opened fire inside an elementary school in Uvalde Texas, killing 19 children and 2 teachers in the deadliest school shooting in the U.S. in nearly a decade according to the Associated Press.
That same day, two background check bills, H.R. 1446 and H.R. 8, were read by the U.S. Senate for the first time after the bills had been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in March of 2021.
Paul Helmke, a professor of practice at IU’s O’Neill School, said a major difficulty is that bills can sometimes get through the House but not the Senate because of the filibuster which, he said, is now used to stop every piece of legislation that doesn’t have 60 votes behind it.
“The filibuster is used on a number of other items,” Helmke said. “But the last time they took a vote in the Senate on any gun violence prevention legislation was after the Sandy Hook shootings.”
Jody Madeira, a professor of law at IU’s Maurer School of Law, said lawmakers are afraid of well-funded gun rights organizations like the National Rifle Association (NRA) and that if they don’t tow the party line they will lose votes and won’t get the “A” rating.
“Even though background checks should be bipartisan, you know, unfortunately, such measures are still viewed as political, and therefore controversial,” Madeira said.
The impact of these organizations, Madeira said, is profound. She said the NRA still carries a lot of power despite its undisclosed amount of members and recent loss of prestige due to controversies.
“If a legislator gets less than an A rating, then their constituents are just going to look at that, and they're going to assume that the legislator is gun control friendly, and probably will vote them out of office or try to,” Madeira said.
In March, Indiana lawmakers passed a bill that would allow a person to carry a handgun in public without a permit.
“The State Police objected to it, law enforcement objected to it around the state because it makes it more unsafe for them and makes all of us more unsafe,” Helmke said.
He said he hopes and prays people start pushing their elected officials to do something.
“It's going to take everyday citizens to push their elected officials, Republicans and Democrats, andsay, do something,” Helmke said.
Madeira said she believes these events in Texas are going to go the way of Newtown and Parkland.
“What seems to be the trend is that you get accusations by Democrats that Republicans are not doing enough that they are hiding from the need to pass laws like red flag laws,” Madeira said.
Madeira said she believes that when Democrats call for gun reform, the instant Republican response is thoughts and prayers and mental health.
“No amount of death I think will move them from that current position,” Madeira said. “If this does not do it, if Newtown didn't do it, if Parkland doesn't do it, you know, then what does it?”
But in Texas, any changes to gun access won’t come until lawmakers return to the Capitol in 2023 according to the Associated Press.
