The families of the victims in the Robb Elementary School shooting didn’t wait until sunlight for their latest rally for gun reform. At first, they didn’t even do the talking.
Instead, relatives relayed their message by playing an audio clip of children’s voices outside the Governor’s Mansion before sunrise on Saturday.
Jazmin Cazares, who has been advocating for gun reform on behalf of her sister, Jackie, Tweeted a video of the demonstration, adding “Time is now 5:40am, if we don’t get to sleep, neither does @GregAbbott_TX.”
We are outside of the Governors Mansion. An audio clip of our children’s voices are playing on repeat. Time is now 5:40am, if we don’t get to sleep, neither does @GregAbbott_TX call a special session.#remembertheirnames pic.twitter.com/k6bWlgBmBl
It was before the relatives headed to the steps of the Texas Capitol, where they spent Saturday urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to raise the minimum age to purchase an automatic rifle from 18 to 21 years old.
They also shared memories and details of the 19 students — including Jackie — and their two teachers who died at the hands of an 18-year-old gunman on May 24.
“Not everybody agrees on an assault weapon ban, that’s why we want to reach a compromise, meet in the middle, and raise the age to 21 to buy an assault weapon,” Jazmin Cazares later said at the rally.
Fernanda Arriola, a grandmother of one of the students killed, said the reality is “easy access” for teens to purchase assault rifles.
“It is time to stop using mental issues as an excuse for these mass shootings,” she said.
Survivors of the 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School and other youth activists from across the state joined them in the rally, according to a report from KTBC.
Rhonda Hart, a parent of a Santa Fe victim, said following the mass shooting there in 2018, Abbott held roundtable meetings and “promised” tighter laws on guns.
“You failed us,” she said.
Only Abbott can call a special session, and he has so far resisted doing so.
His press secretary, Renae Eze, told KSAT in an email that “all options remain on the table.”
“More announcements are expected in the coming days and weeks as the legislature deliberates proposed solutions,” a portion of the statement reads.
Last week, federal judge U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth struck down a firearm restriction in Texas.
He ruled that the state law prohibiting most 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying a handgun outside the home violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms and cannot be enforced.
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