About 24 hours after an unnamed gunman took the lives of seven men and women in Odessa, Texas and injured 22 others in the latest mass shooting to affect the state, new gun laws went into effect making it easier to own a firearm.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation in June that took effect Sunday (Sept.1) which allowed residents to carry guns in schools, places of worship, foster homes with children and apartments.
Gun control activists are livid about the new law considering some Texans haven’t healed from the El Passo shooting, which left more than 20 people dead. Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts spoke with NBC News about the loose gun laws.
“Four of the deadliest mass shootings in the last decade have taken place in Texas,” Watts said “Instead of following other states’ lead and passing life-saving legislation, like background checks and strong red flag laws, Texas’ governor and legislature have made even more lax gun laws,” she said.
Watts thinks Abbott and other politicians like him allow gun lobbyists like the NRA to write gun laws for the state.
“If more guns and fewer gun laws made us safer, we would be the safest country in the world, and Texas would be the safest state in the country,” Watts said.
Texan, Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro spoke with AM Joy and matter-of-factly said the laws “are a mistake.”
“The idea that a good guy with a gun is gonna stop a bad guy with a gun, it doesn’t work that way.”