Greg Abbott is the governor of Texas. You should know his name by now, even if you don’t live in the Lonestar state. He’s the vocal conservative who has been bussing illegal immigrants to progressive cities since the Biden administration won’t do anything about it. And he’s been a pro-gun advocate for years.
Unfortunately, gun incidents occur – and one that rocked the entire nation happened in Uvalde, Texas. An elementary school was shot up by an 18-year-old with an AR-15, killing students and teachers alike.
The parents at Uvalde want to see the age to own a gun raised to 21. That would mean that 18, 19, and 20-year-old adults wouldn’t be able to own a gun – and they would have to forfeit guns they already own.
That idea has already been deemed as “unconstitutional” by a federal judge in Texas.
If 18-year-olds can join the military and fight for their country, they have a right to own a gun.
An “adult” is considered to be anyone who is at least 18 years of age. As such, we have to make sure that we’re treating all adults the same.
One crazy person shouldn’t change the way that we define an adult – or how we trust young adults with firearms.
Abbott is up for reelection in November – and he’s going up against Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke. You know, the former presidential primary runner that said that he’s going to come for our guns. Yeah, that one.
With so many people in the state yelling for some kind of gun reform, is Abbott’s refusal to consider their request going to hurt him in the re-election?
He’s spoken on the issue on more than one occasion. At a recent campaign event in Dallas, Abbott explained “It is clear that the gun control law that they are seeking in Uvalde, as much as they may want it, it has already been ruled to be unconstitutional.”
That may not be true according to a law scholar as well as the March for Our Lives group. They pointed out that several states already require buyers by at least 21 when buying certain types of long guns. States with such laws on the books include Florida, Washington, Vermont, Hawaii, and Illinois.
Meanwhile, Beto O’Rourke has already pledged to provide stronger gun control measures. It’s actually at the very center of his campaign. And he has tweeted, “thanks to the leadership of the families in Uvalde, we are going to do it.”
There’s been legislation happening all over the country involving whether banning the sale of weapons to those under 21 is constitutional or not.
A federal judge in Texas struck it down. A federal appeals court in California ruled that a state ban on semiautomatic weapons to those under 21 was unconstitutional, too.
Abbott remains confident about his decision to support gun rights. And really, what happened in Uvalde could have easily been done by a 30-year-old. Does that mean that the gun ownership age should have been risen to 31? 40?
Sanford Levison is a professor at the Austin School of Law at UT. He believes Abbott is speaking with too much certainty. “There is no good reason to say that with confidence. All you can say is some people think it is, some people think it isn’t. But the Supreme Court has certainly not addressed the issue.”
Abbot would rather focus on mental health. O’Rourke will listen to the cries of Uvalde parents.
So, now, it’s a matter of waiting to see what the people of Texas think when they head to the polls in November.
