‘We Did Nothing’: Texas Republican Lawmaker Says GOP Legislature Hasn’t Done Anything to Stop Gun Violence
A Republican lawmaker in Texas says his party hasn’t done anything to prevent gun violence in the state.
State Sen. Kel Seliger appeared with Don Lemon on CNN Wednesday night, eight days after a gunman opened fire at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 19 children and two teachers.
The host noted that Seliger will join Democrats in Texas in calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to convene a special session so legislators can address the issue.
“What would you like to see happen?” Lemon asked.
“What I would like to see happen is a special session in which we can pass legislation, pretty quickly,” Seliger said. “Otherwise, we wait until January of 2023, where we will address thousands of issues.”
The Republican said if Abbott refuses to call a special session, that would fail to convey the “immediacy we must feel in a case like this.”
He noted Wednesday’s deadly mass shooting in Tulsa and said, “It’s gonna happen again.”
Lemon agreed that more shootings will occur. The host pointed to a 2019 mass shooting in Odessa, which Seliger represents. Eight people were killed. He noted that Abbott has pledged that such an event wouldn’t happen again in the state.
“Right,” interjected Seliger, before Lemon asked the senator how the Uvalde shooting has impacted him.
“I haven’t slept well for eight days because I sat there in 87th legislature [in 2021], and the attendant couple special sessions, and we did nothing,” Seliger answered. “I’ve spent sleepless nights since then because we should have done something.”
Republicans have had full control of the Texas state government – House, Senate, and governor’s office – since 2003.
Seliger then referenced a number of mass shootings in Texas in recent years, including in Odessa, El Paso, Santa Fe, and Uvalde.
“There are parents right now, that are scared to death to send their kids to school tomorrow,” he said.
“We should consider everything,” the senator said later in the interview. “That’s why when you have authoritative sources like [the Texas Department of Public Safety] and FBI come in and say, “In our experience – substantial – these are the things that will lessen this.”
The senator concluded, “All things ought to be on the table. We could argue that if 18-year-olds could not buy assault rifles, this young man would not have gone into the Uvalde school so well-armed.”
Seliger is retiring at the end of this term. He has received endorsements from the National Rifle Association over the years. In recent times, he has been viewed by some fellow Republicans as “soft on social conservative issues.”
Watch above via CNN.
