It’s been just over six months since a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle murdered 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The mass shooting shocked the nation and spurred lawmakers to action, passing the first piece of major gun safety legislation in decades.

With the clock ticking on the current session of Congress, relatives of the victims plan to visit Washington at least one more time to urge Senate passage of legislation expanding background checks on gun buyers and banning certain semi-automatic rifles.

What You Need To Know

  • With the clock ticking on the current session of Congress, relatives of the victims of the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, plan to visit Washington one more time to urge Senate passage of legislation expanding background checks on gun buyers and banning certain semi-automatic rifles

  • A group of mayors from across the country co-signed a letter with dozens of their counterparts from across the country urging Senate leadership to take action during the lame-duck session to pass House-approved bills expanding background checks and banning semi-automatic rifles

  • Though both bills already passed the Democratic-controlled House, they face an unlikely future in the evenly divided Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster

  • If the Senate fails to act before the current session adjourns on Jan. 3, 2023, the bills would expire and would be needed to be reintroduced when the next Congress takes over

“It's a matter of life and death. It's a question of how many more innocent school children are citizens of our country will be murdered," Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said. "There has not been the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and do what's necessary for gun safety.”

Doggett represents Austin and San Antonio. Both of its mayors co-signed a letter with dozens of their counterparts from across the country urging Senate leadership to take action during the lame-duck session, the short period after the midterm elections before the current session ends and the new Congress takes over.

In the letter, the mayors urged Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to enact a pair of House-passed bills: One to ban the sale, import and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic weapons, and another to expand background checks for firearm purchases.

“How much more death and destruction must our residents and our communities endure before the Senate acts?” the letter reads.

Doggett said that passing both bills would ensure "that we have the protection that is needed to save the lives and prevent another Uvalde or another El Paso,” referencing a 2019 shooting at a Walmart that saw 22 people killed. 

Though both bills already passed the Democratic-controlled House, they face an unlikely future in the evenly divided Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, one of the lead negotiatiors on the bipartisan gun safety bill that passed earlier this year, expressed doubt the bills would attract enough GOP support to overcome a filibuster.

One gun rights advocate said gun owners have been disappointed with what has been accomplished so far in the Senate.

“At Gun Owners of America, our argument is that when you delay a right, you're denying the right,” said Wesley Virdell, the Texas State Director for the Gun Owners of America, a gun rights organization.

Virdell pointed to how Uvalde County overwhelmingly backed Republicans in the 2022 midterms.

“The community there actually feels that the Democrats approach versus the Republicans approach probably is not as good," Virdell told Spectrum News. “It's a terrible tragedy, but what the way we look at it is, you had a classroom full of kids, and nobody was there armed to defend them. And then when law enforcement got there, their reaction was not immediate response, it was sitting back waiting.”

Some gun control advocates expressed their displeasure with Democrats' approach to gun safety reform, with one telling Spectrum News that Uvalde County overwhelmingly backed Republicans in the 2022 midterms.

“The community there actually feels that the Democrats approach versus the Republicans approach probably is not as good," said Wesley Virdell, the Texas State Director for the Gun Owners of America, a gun rights organization.

Uvalde County is overwhelmingly a Republican stronghold, backing the GOP presidential candidate every year since 1968.

If the Senate fails to act before the current session adjourns on Jan. 3, 2023, the bills would expire and would be needed to be reintroduced when the next Congress takes over. The bills would then need to be reintroduced in both chambers, though there's little chance they would even be taken up when Republicans take control of the Chamber in January.