WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, led a group of lawmakers in introducing a bill Wednesday that would bar those convicted of violent misdemeanor hate crimes from obtaining guns.
The bill, dubbed the Disarm Hate Act, comes four years after a gunman shot and killed 23 people in an El Paso Walmart in Escobar’s district. The gunman later pleaded guilty to hate crimes, having posted racist screeds in white supremacist forums shortly before the attack. It remains the deadliest hate crime against Latinos in modern U.S. history.
