(C) Texas Tribune This story was originally published by Texas Tribune and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Blast: Allen, Brownsville and the House take action [1] [] Date: 2023-05 TWO TRAGEDIES, AND SOME RESOLUTION It’s been an unrelenting three days for Texas, and it’s difficult to know where exactly to start off this newsletter. Texas is mourning the lives of 16 people killed in two tragedies this weekend, eight in a shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets mall on Saturday, then another eight who died in Brownsville on Sunday when a vehicle barreled into pedestrians at a bus stop outside of a migrant center. Gov. Greg Abbott traveled to Allen, just north of Dallas, last night for a vigil and to visit the impacted families, law enforcement, investigators and the community at large. He also spoke with Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda and Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño. Abbott discussed the shooting on Fox News Sunday yesterday and put out a statement following the tragedy in Allen. But his first public address since the tragedies came this morning on the tarmac at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where the governor took four questions from reporters before watching 450 National Guard troops fly off toward the Mexico border. One reporter asked whether there is any indication the Brownsville crash was intentional. Abbott said authorities could tell the public a lot more in a news conference Sauceda had scheduled for later in the morning. However, officials at that event did not provide any more clarity on whether the crash was deliberate. Abbott also fielded a question about Allen, answering that leaders will need to wait until officials learn more about why and how the attack happened before taking steps to prevent future shootings. Reports suggest the shooter may have had white supremecist or neo-Nazi beliefs. Viewers got more answers on the policy front during the Fox News Sunday segment, when host Shannon Bream presented Abbott with a Fox poll of U.S. voters that found overwhelming support for background checks, enforcing existing laws, raising the minimum age to buy all guns to 21 and more. “We are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing the mental health problems behind it,” Abbott told Bream. “People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.” But in the House today, some did seek swift action. Protesters’ chants to “raise the age” to purchase semi-automatic rifles echoed over the House prayer this morning for Allen victims. And despite Chair Ryan Guillen telling reporters his House Select Committee on Community Safety wouldn’t take up House Bill 2744, a bill to “raise the age” to 21, leadership called an audible, convening the committee to vote out the bill after political maneuvering by Democrats. An important note: today marks the last day for House committees to report House bills, barring legislative tomfoolery. Democrats made the calculation that the votes exist to pass HB 2744 off the floor despite House leadership’s claims otherwise. Democratic Reps. John Bryant of Dallas and Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio developed a pair of motions that could have forced HB 2744 to the House floor. When Bryant brought the first of those motions, the committee rushed to schedule a meeting to consider the bill. “We have rules in our rulebook that can bring a bill to life at any time, and dammit, I’ m prepared to use them,” Martinez Fischer told reporters during a news conference less than 30 minutes before Democrats put their plan into action. Ultimately, the panel voted 8-5 to advance it, with GOP Reps. Sam Harless of Spring and Justin Holland of Rockwall voting with Democrats. Now, it awaits an unlikely scheduling on the House calendar. Although the action is largely symbolic, it marked a landmark moment for legislation that, until this year, had never even received a legislative hearing. [END] --- [1] Url: https://mailchi.mp/texastribune/the-blast-allen-brownsville-and-the-house-take-action Published and (C) by Texas Tribune Content appears here under this condition or license: Used with Permission: https://www.texastribune.org/republishing-guidelines/. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/texastribune/