Gun Regulation Groups Give Texas Lawmakers An “F”

Texas gets a failing grade when it comes to passing gun legislation aimed at preventing violence, according a new study by two gun regulation groups.  The report filed jointly by the and by the studies every state’s gun laws and scores those laws based on how effective they are at reducing the number of gun death rates.  Laura Cutilletta is a senior staff attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and says Texas ’ score went down from the prior year but stayed the same letter grade.

Cutilletta says, “ Texas came out pretty much as the same actually came out pretty much as the same as last year,” says Laura Cutilletta, a senior staff attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.  “ Texas didn’t really do much this year as far as regulating firearms. Certainly [not] enough that would’ve changed its grade. So, Texas came  out with an F.” 

Texas did pass a number of gun laws over the last legislative session. On one Saturday, there were so many hitting the floor of Texas House that it was deemed “Gun Day” at the State Capitol. But Cutilletta says none of those bills helped prevent shootings.

Cutilletta says, “ Texas did not do any better, the things that it did only could have hurt its grade this year.”

Pointing to one legislative bright spot, Cutilletta says state lawmakers did pass a law that allows police officers to seize a person’s guns if law enforcement feels they are a risk to themselves or others.

While Texas joins more than twenty other states that received failing grades for gun regulation, it hovers in the middle when calculating deaths by shooting.  Cutilletta says overall their scorecard shows an improvement among other states, but as far as Texas goes it is the second year in a row the state has received a failing grade from the Brady Center and Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence report.

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