Political Wire: “Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) on Monday announced that he would call lawmakers back to the state’s Capitol on Aug. 21 for a special session after the Republican-led Legislature adjourned earlier this year without taking on gun control,” ABC News reports.
“The announcement comes weeks after six people — including three young children — were killed in a Nashville school shooting. The tragedy sparked Lee, a Republican, to urge the General Assembly to pass legislation that would keep firearms away from people who could harm themselves or others. But instead, GOP leaders moved to quickly adjourn rather than take up the governor’s request in the remaining days of an already chaotic session.”
CBS News: “Texas state lawmakers on Monday moved forward with a gun control bill in a surprise move that came just hours after families of mass shooting victims had begged them to take action in the wake of the rampage Saturday at a mall in Allen that left eight dead.
State House lawmakers on Monday voted a bill out of committee that would raise the legal age to buy an assault-style weapon to 21, as well as prohibit firearm sales to those who are intoxicated or who have a protective order against them. Two Republicans joined all the Democrats on the committee to support the bill in an 8-5 vote. Families from Uvalde, who have fiercely advocated for the bill, burst into applause after the vote.
Monday marked the last day the measure could be advanced out of the committee for a floor vote before the legislative session ends on May 29.
Ahead of the vote Monday, the families from Uvalde and Sutherland Springs — the site of a horrific church shooting in 2017 — pleaded with lawmakers to bring the legislation to the floor. “