AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke was in Austin Friday to speak on the recent Uvalde school shooting.
O'Rourke discussed his vision for protecting children across the state and how he believes his opponent, Gov. Greg Abbott, has failed to do so over the past seven years.
At the event, he criticized Abbott for not calling a special legislative session to address gun legislation. O'Rourke said it's hard to find Texas who doesn't want to see something change in the wake of the tragedy.
"Even if we can't do everything that everyone here wants to do, there is so much that is available to us that makes sense and that most Texans can actually agree on," he said.
The governor hasn't called a special session, but he has directed the Texas House and Senate to form special committees to protect Texas by looking at school safety, mental health and gun safety. Legislative committees can do that work without the governor's direction.
Prior to his visit, O'Rourke joined KVUE for a live interview at mid-day. We reached out to Gov. Abbott's office to speak with him as well, but our request was declined.
Here's a transcript of our conversation:
How do you plan to protect Texas children from school shootings?
We've got to listen to the communities that have been affected and impacted by this gun violence and the survivors who tell us that you're not going to reduce gun violence without addressing guns in the state of Texas. There's a lot of common ground on issues that would save lives, like a universal background check that would stop some of the shootings that we're seeing in this state. A red flag law for extreme-risk protection order that allows law enforcement to intervene when someone with a firearm is threatening to harm themselves or someone else. Safe storage laws that say if you have a child or someone who may be a danger to others in your home, you've got to keep that firearm locked up so that they cannot use it against others in our community. There's lots of common ground on these issues, but we need to do something or we will be complicit in the next shooting and in the next school shooting in some community across the state of Texas. And none of us want to be part of that. So the moment for action is now.
Well, this week, speaking of action, Gov. Greg Abbott announced measures on how he plans to protect children. He directed to the lieutenant governor and speaker to come up with legislative committees to tackle topics like school safety and firearm safety. He asked them to do a number of things, including instructing all school districts to conduct weekly inspections of doors to make sure they're secure. What else should he be doing?
I think we all know that that's not going to cut it. This is the sixth mass shooting on his watch. After every one of these, he promises action and we have yet to see a single thing that will improve safety and protect lives. In fact, by signing permitless carry that allows anyone to carry a loaded gun on our streets without a background check or any training or vetting whatsoever. He's made it more likely that we'll have more shootings. He's called for a committee, as you said. The governor uniquely has the power to call for a special session, which, as you know, he did last year to make it harder for people to vote, to decide which athletics or sports that transgender students could could play in. He has called special sessions for things that aren't truly urgent emergency issues in the state of Texas. This one is an emergency. We're losing the lives of our children right before our eyes right now. So the governor should call a special session. Everything should be on the table, including improving our gun laws and moving Texas from 50th in the nation in mental health care access to number one. A great start to get us there would be to expand Medicaid and bring $10 billion in federal aid into our communities to hire the mental health care providers that we need right now.
And speaking of mental health, let's go back to that press conference and you roundtable where you interrupted Gov. Abbott while he was discussing mental health resources for survivors. You were emotional in that confrontation where you blamed the governor for the shootings. Why did you do that?
First of all, I didn't interrupt him. He'd finished saying what he had to say, which was absolutely nothing. Nothing about how to prevent the next school shooting. Nothing about how to expand access to mental health care. Nothing to address the fact that we have seen five of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history in this state in just the last five years. And he and the Republican-majority legislature have done nothing to avert the next one. In fact, have made it all the more likely. Someone needs to stand up. Someone needs to do something or we're going to continue to see this in our communities. I was here in El Paso on Aug. 3, 2019, when 23 of my neighbors were slaughtered in a Walmart by somebody who was inspired by this governor's rhetoric about repelling an invasion, defending ourselves, taking matters into our own hands. That person brought an AK-47, a weapon of war, into that Walmart and killed people simply based on the color of their skin and their perceived immigration status. I was there when he said he was going to do something about it afterwards and did nothing. So we all have to stand up at this moment to be counted, to take action and to do what is necessary to prevent the next tragedy.
Last night, we heard President Joe Biden say he wants to ban assault rifles. You want to ban assault rifles. Knowing that it isn't quite a popular view here in Texas, how do you make that message resonate with Independents and Republicans?
Let's start where there's some common ground. Most gun owners, non-gun owners, Republicans, Democrats alike, can agree on a universal background check. We don't have that in Texas, which means that in Midland, Odessa in 2019, a guy who was denied a gun from a federally licensed arms dealer in that community was able to buy privately and AR-15 and then use it to kill seven people in that community. Universal background check, we can get there even with the Republican majority legislature. Safe storage laws would have averted the massacre at Santa Fe High School in 2008. Let's do that. Most of us can agree on that. And in making sure that we have an extreme-risk protection order so that we can intervene before someone uses the firearm in their possession to do the things that they've told their family, their colleagues, their classmates they are going to do. We don't have a law right now that allows police to intervene. So I think there is broad bipartisan consensus and agreement on at least that much it allows us. We won't solve or prevent every tragedy of gun violence, but we'll do a lot more to reduce the number that we have in Texas. That's a great place for us to start. As governor, I intend to get that done within the first year of my administration.
Gun control, reproductive rights, the power grid, all these issues you're passionate about. Are these issues enough to increase voter turnout in November?
All of these issues affect all of us. Amy and I are parents to two, three kids, one in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary school here in El Paso. Like millions of other parents across Texas, we want to do a better job of saving the lives of our kids and everyone else's kids in this state. That's something that connects with every single one of us. The power grid failure where Greg Abbott ignored the advice, did nothing to address the underlying vulnerabilities, pegged the price of gas at 200 times its going rate and passed the bill onto us. It killed 700 of our fellow Texans. People froze to death in the energy capital of the world. We know that we can do better on that. CPS, Child Protective Services, doesn't get talked about enough, but 100 children have died in the custody and care of the State of Texas just since the year 2020. Because that system is so badly managed and under-resourced that the judge, Judge Jack, has been following this, has talked about it going from bad to worse and kids emerging from that system more damage than they went in. The common thread is Greg Abbott. He's doing nothing to save or protect the lives of the people of this state and the people of this state. Republicans and Democrats alike know that we can, will and must do better.
Except public polls show you behind Gov. Abbott in this race. What is your reaction to that? What are you not doing?
I love what we're doing. We are with 75,000 volunteers from across the state of Texas talking to the voters who will decide the outcome of this election right at their doors. We're not waiting until September or October, right on the eve of the election. We're talking to folks right now at the beginning of June. This is reflective of the fact that it will not be a single candidate or a political party that wins this race. It's going to be the people of Texas. And I welcome everyone, regardless of the differences between us. I don't care who you voted for in the last election. The letter next to your name. All that matters is that you're a Texan and you want to do better. I am confident that as our volunteers reach out to people across the 254 counties of Texas over the next five months, because that's all that's left between now and the 8th of November, we are going to more than make up that gap. We're going to win this election. And we're going to have a governor who's going to serve all of the people of Texas.
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