Texas school shooting: State expanded access to guns as recently as late last year

Texas law allows gun owners to carry handguns without licenses, background checks or any training

The mass shooting at a Texas school on Tuesday that killed at least 21 people including 19 children comes less than a year after the state brought in laws that allowed more people to possess handguns.

The law, which came into effect last September, allows gun owners to openly carry a handgun without going through the requirements of needing a licence, background check or any training.

With the law, Texas joined nearly two dozen states that allow some form of unregulated handgun possession.

Texas already allowed rifles to be carried in public without a licence prior to the law.

But with the new law, most Texans 21 years or older who haven’t been convicted of certain crimes, can carry a holstered handgun in public without undergoing any training, getting a permit or undergoing a state-run background check.

The law was a part of seven pieces of legislation signed by governor Greg Abbott last June when he pledged to keep Texas a “bastion of freedom”.

Follow the latest updates on the Uvalde mass shooting

“Politicians from the federal level to the local level have threatened to take guns from law-abiding citizens — but we will not let that happen in Texas,” the governor was quoted as saying in a press statement released by his office on 17 June.

“Texas will always be the leader in defending the Second Amendment, which is why we built a barrier around gun rights this session.

“These seven laws will protect the rights of law-abiding citizens and ensure that Texas remains a bastion of freedom. Thank you to the Texas Legislature for getting these bills to my desk,” he had said while standing next to representatives from the National Rifle Association (NRA).

While the governor offered his condolences for the shooting on Tuesday, outrage has grown after an old 2015 tweet from the governor surfaced in which he mocked Texans for buying fewer guns in comparison to other states.

“I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans,” he had tweeted in 2015.

Tony Gonzales, the Republican Representative of Texas’ 23rd congressional district which includes Uvalde where the shooting took place on Tuesday, is also facing heat for an old tweet advocating guns.

“I voted NO on two gun control measures in the House today. I am a proud supporter of the Second Amendment and will do everything I can to oppose gun grabs from the far Left,” Mr Gonzales had tweeted last March.

The tweet resurfaced after Mr Gonzales offered his tributes for the mass shooting.

“Lawmakers like Abbott, and others who try to build a political brand by energizing NRA voters, have a lot of blood on their hands,” Igor Volsky, executive director of gun-violence prevention group Guns Down America, told NBC.