Mental health-related gun safety bill headed to Texas governor's desk
Senate Bill 728 is likely the only bill related to gun safety to receive legislative approval this year.
John C. Moritz
AUSTIN — Legislation to require courts to send mental health and intellectual disability information to the government agency that does criminal background checks for gun purchasers has cleared both houses of the Texas Legislature and is on its way to Gov. Greg Abbott for final approval.
Senate Bill 728 enjoyed broad bipartisan support and is likely the only gun safety measure this year with a chance of being enacted in the first legislative session since last year's mass shooting in a Uvalde elementary school that left 19 children and two teachers dead.
But the House sponsor of the bill emphasized that the measure is not intended to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
"This bill is a response to much of the gun violence we've seen in our state in recent years," state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, told the lower chamber on Wednesday. "I want to make very clear, members, this bill does not ... change any existing federal or state law regarding firearms."
The House vote was 116-28. In the Senate, it passed unanimously.
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Under intense pressure from the family members of several Uvalde victims last week, the House Committee on Community Safety approved a measure to raise the age to legally purchase military-style rifles in Texas from 18 to 21. But with the deadline to consider bills fast approaching, the legislation by Uvalde Democratic state Rep. Tracy King did not make it in time to be considered by the full House.
When she laid out SB 728 before the Senate in early March, bill author Joan Huffman, R-Houston, said lawmakers have "an obligation to make sure that we are reaching these kids" who are intellectually impaired or facing mental health challenges before they are able to purchase guns.
Last week, Leach took the House floor to make an emotional speech about the gun violence that had affected his own district, the deadly May 6 mass shooting at an outlet mall in the Dallas suburb of Allen.
“There’s a lot we don’t know," said Leach, who described himself as gun-rights advocate. "But one thing I do know is this is happening way too much, and it doesn’t have to be this way. I don’t have the answers."
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If Abbott signs SB 728 into law, it would track the 2022 federal law that was dubbed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The information on mental health and intellectual impairments that comes up in court proceedings would be forwarded to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which would then pass it along to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, known as NICS.
Both Leach and Huffman insisted the bill is not a so-called red flag law, which gun rights organizations have called a back-door channel to take guns from people based solely on a suspicion that they might pose a public danger.
John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.