In the wake of the horrifying Uvalde, Texas, massacre, one TX Republican lawmaker has made a rare break with the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, calling them out for not doing near enough to bring an end to these devastating mass shootings, and demanding that something be done to create some change “pretty quickly.”
Speaking on Don Lemon Tonight last night, Texas State Senator Kel Seliger turned his back on his party and united with Texas Democrats to call on GOP Governor Greg Abbott to convene a special session of the state Legislature with the specific intent of addressing gun control laws, after 21 innocent people were shot and killed by an 18-year-old gunman with an AR-15 assault rifle at Robb Elementary School last week.
“What I would like to see happen is a special session, in which we can pass legislation pretty quickly,” Seliger confirmed.
Seliger went on to explain to host Lemon that if Abbott chooses not to call for the special session they’re asking for, the alternative is that “we wait until January of 2023, where we will address thousands of issues.”
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While seeing a Texas Republican align with the Democratic party on pretty much any issue is a bit of a rarity, Seliger is not alone in Republican lawmakers who have broken from the GOP across the nation on the same issue at hand here.
Joe Walsh, a former GOP congressman from Illinois who describes himself as a “huge gun rights advocate,” appeared on CNN‘s New Day this week to call for passionate Second Amendment people like me” to “get off our ass and pressure these Senate Republicans to do something.”
Seliger told Lemon, “I haven’t slept well for eight days because I sat there in the 87th Legislature and the attendant, couple special sessions, and we did nothing. And I’ve spent sleepless nights since then because we should have done something. We should have at least had a very incisive dialogue about what could be done.”
Newsweek reports, “On Wednesday, after calls from Texas Democrats for Abbott to convene a special session, the governor issued a letter to Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan directing them to form committees in order to come up with recommendations on a number of topics, including school safety, mental health, and firearm safety.”
Watch a clip of the interview from CNN here:
Featured image via screen capture
