Texas GOP senator rips his own party for doing ‘nothing’ on gun control: All things should be on the table

(Video: CNN)

The mass shooting last week at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school has sparked yet another predictable cry for gun control from Democrats, but this time, it’s also exposing so-called “RINO” Republicans, like Texas State Senator Kel Seliger, who went on CNN Wednesday to claim the GOP in the Lone Star State “did nothing” to stop gun violence and “all things ought to be on the table” when it comes to restricting the 2nd Amendment.

“What I would like to see happen is a special session in which we can pass legislation, pretty quickly,” Seliger told host Don Lemon and his viewers. “Otherwise, we wait until January of 2023, where we will address thousands of issues.”

Seliger called on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to convene a special session or risk failing to convey the “immediacy we must feel in a case like this.”

“It’s going to happen again,” he warned.

The shooting in Uvalde, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, has, according to Seliger, kept him up at night.

“I haven’t slept well for eight days because I sat there in 87th legislature [in 2021], and… we did nothing,” he said. “I’ve spent sleepless nights since then because we should have done something.”

“That’s why in my call for the special session I said we should sit down with the FBI and Department of Public Safety and talk about what would work in Odesa or El Paso or Santa Fe or Uvalde and start coming up with solutions,” the lawmaker continued. “There are parents right now that are scared to death to send their kids to school tomorrow.”

Lemon noted that Texas, which has been under full GOP control since 2003, has loosened gun restrictions over the past few years and pointed to legislation that allows Texans over the age of 21 to carry a handgun in public — legislation Seliger voted to support.

“Do you think that’s a mistake?” Lemon asked. “Laws like that, are they mistakes?”

“As I look at it, they were largely unnecessary,” Seliger replied. “More unnecessary than mistakes.”

According to the lawmaker, “We should consider everything,” because what may have prevented the shooting in Odesa may not have stopped Uvalde from happening.

“All things ought to be on the table,” he said. “We could argue that if 18-year-olds could not buy assault rifles, this young man would not have gone into the Uvalde school so well-armed.”

Calling for gun restrictions is a knee-jerk reaction we’ve come to expect from Democrats, but coming from a Republican in Texas, it is jarring.

As American Wire previously reported, shooter Salvador Ramos, 18, was already violating gun laws when he entered Robb Elementary School, as in Texas, schools are established gun-free zones.

“Neither Constitutional carry nor concealed carry permits allow firearms on school premises and even DPS sanctioned programs like the Texas School Guardian Program require special permission,” Dana Loesch, who served as a National Rifle Association spokesperson, tweeted following the tragic incident.

What’s more, she said, citing Texas and federal law, “18 year-olds are ineligible to buy or carry firearms.”

If current gun laws don’t stop violent offenders from purchasing weapons and taking them into schools, it is unclear how additional legislation would make a difference, other than to weaken the Constitution.

As Ben Shapiro noted, “The Texas shooter violated a multiplicity of gun laws. The suggestion that more gun laws would have prevented this act of unspeakable evil is unsupported, and the implication that those who oppose such laws are somehow in favor of mass shootings is morally reprehensible.”

Melissa Fine

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