Prospects for "red flag" gun law in Texas plummet as Abbott sees "coalescence" against it

[TexasTowelie]

By Patrick Svitek and Jolie McCullough, Texas Tribune


The chances of Texas passing a so-called "red flag" law after the Santa Fe school shooting continued to drop Friday as Gov. Greg Abbott said he saw a "coalescence" against the proposal.

As part of his school safety plan released after the May 18 massacre, the Republican governor asked the Legislature to consider such a law, which would allow courts to order the seizure or surrender of guns from people who are deemed an imminent threat by a judge. But even then, Abbott's request for lawmakers to study the proposal drew the ire of some Second Amendment hardliners in the governor's party, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared Tuesday that he has never supported a "red flag" law and suggested it would be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Abbott, appearing Friday at an unrelated news conference in Austin, was asked if he still wanted lawmakers to consider the idea in the wake of Patrick's comment.

"If you go back and look at what I said in my plan, I suggested what the Legislature consider — whether or not the existing protective order laws in the state of Texas were adequate or whether or not they should be amended to add emergency risk protective orders," Abbott said. "And it seems like there's coalescence around the notion of not supporting what's categorized as a 'red flag' law. What is important is ... that we work together as a legislative body towards solution to make our schools safer and to make our communities safer."

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/07/27/red-flag-gun-law/