UVALDE — On a hot Saturday morning in June, Javier Cazares drove to Austin with his wife and 17-year-old daughter to join hundreds of demonstrators at the state Capitol in demanding that lawmakers adopt stricter gun laws that could help prevent another mass shooting.
Cazares, 43, said he wanted to blend in with the rest of the demonstrators. Political activism wasn’t in his nature. He didn’t even vote in the 2020 presidential election.