The families of the Uvalde school shooting victims erupted in cheers after two Republican state legislators voted to advance a bill that would raise the minimum age limit to buy semiautomatic rifles in Texas.
Two Republicans joined Democrats in the Texas House Select Committee on Community Safety to approve the “raise the age” gun bill in an 8-5 vote and advance it to the House floor. After they voted, families of the victims of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting could be heard cheering and sobbing in videos reported by KXAN News.
An 18-year-old opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, last May, killing 19 children and two teachers. The attack was the third-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.
The families of the victims in the mass shooting have banded together to demand stricter gun laws, including advocating for bill HB 2744, which would raise the age to purchase semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.
The families of the Uvalde victims held a press conference ahead of the committee’s meeting on Monday, calling on the chairman to hold a committee vote on the measure. Monday is the deadline for scheduling votes in the House chamber and the last day for committees to send the bill to the floor.
“Because at the end of the day, I’m just a mom who wants my daughter back. And a mom who doesn’t want another mom to know my pain,” Kimberly Mata-Rubio said at the press conference. Mata-Rubio’s daughter, Lexi, was killed in the shooting.
Volunteers from Moms Demand Action, an advocacy group that calls for stricter gun laws, were also in attendance at the committee hearing Monday to urge the members to pass the bill.
“Today’s vote is a crucial step in the right direction, but we won’t give up. We will keep holding lawmakers in Texas — and across the nation — accountable until life-saving measures like HB 2744 become law,” the group said in a statement on Twitter.