DALLAS — In the gymnasium, the anger and frustration were palpable.
It was felt in the words of a pastor, who told the crowded auditorium he was tired of prayer not being backed by action.
It came from the mouth of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who said children shouldn’t be afraid a gunman would come shoot them, and that leaders needed to understand that.
And to Beto O’Rourke, the former representative from El Paso for whom the crowd gathered for that evening, the question came down to this: How can Texas protect its kids?
He began to explore the answer Wednesday night as he begins the final stretch of his campaign to be Texas’ next governor at Dallas’ Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center.
Wednesday evening’s event came eight days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde and a week after O’Rourke caused an uproar at a Uvalde press conference where he confronted Gov. Greg Abbott on his response to mass shootings. The pair go head to head this November in the race for Texas governor.
“It’s on you until you choose to do something,” O’Rourke told the governor. He was later escorted out of the event.
Texas has seen eight mass shootings over the course of 13 years, according to the Texas Tribune, with five of those occurring since 2017. Despite the violence, gun restrictions have only grown more lax.
Abbott sent a letter Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday with a request to convene special committees to discuss possible legislation for mental health, school safety, police training, firearm safety and social media, and also called for a school safety review.
After criticizing the actions of the governor not only over the past week but also in his past seven years in office, the gubernatorial candidate stood in the eye of the crowd and listed myriad potential solutions, all of which he acknowledged wouldn’t eradicate all gun violence, but could certainly lessen it.
He called for the expansion of Medicaid, for the state to be No. 1 for providing mental health care instead of last, for universal background checks, red flag laws and the limitation of access to AK-47s and AR-15s.
O’Rourke told the Star-Telegram in a press pool following the event he supported mandatory buyback of AR-style weapons, but acknowledged in another question from the Texas Tribune that the process to get there might take compromise as a middle ground.
Specifically, he referenced background checks and safe storage laws, and also made mention of Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker’s comments about the possibility of raising the age for buying AR-style weapons, which O’Rourke said he agreed with.
Prior to the pool, O’Rourke said he wanted to partner locally with programs that bought guns back. When pressed by the Tribune on whether those groups existed and how they would be implemented, O’Rourke said he didn’t have an answer because current leadership hasn’t opened an ear locally to figure out their ideas. He said if a community wanted that type of program, he’d be more than happy to partner with them at a state level.
The event featured a lively crowd, which at one point was interrupted by city council rapper Alex Stein. Also among them sat Arturo Robledo of Dallas, who describes himself as a liberal with guns. Robledo said he’s an avid hunter, but he’ll also support any law that may come up, like more background checks, to keep children and everyone else safe.
He said that everyone has had to revert back to the days of carrying guns simply because nothing else has been done. When an issue comes up with guns, Robledo said, Abbott’s response is more guns. Robledo said he’s tired of the rhetoric about why laws should be put in place when there are criminals to break them.
“Something should be done,” Robledo said. “Something needs to be done.”
