Bill Text: TX SCR1 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Declaring gun violence a public health crisis.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-02-15 - Referred to State Affairs [SCR1 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SCR1-Introduced.html
| 88R4656 TBO-D | ||
| By: Blanco | S.C.R. No. 1 | |
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| WHEREAS, Gun violence has reached record levels across the | ||
| United States; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Data from the Centers for Disease Control and | ||
| Prevention shows that incidents involving a firearm are the leading | ||
| cause of death for Americans from 1 to 18 years of age; 3,219 such | ||
| deaths occurred in 2020; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Nearly 49,000 Americans lost their lives to gun | ||
| violence in 2021, according to an analysis by the Johns Hopkins | ||
| Center for Gun Violence Solutions; between 2019 and 2021, homicides | ||
| involving guns increased by 45 percent, compared to just 6 percent | ||
| for other murders; the alarming spike parallels a surge in gun | ||
| purchases during the pandemic, including an increase in sales to | ||
| first-time owners; moreover, tens of thousands of individuals | ||
| suffered nonfatal but life-changing gun injuries; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In Texas, someone is killed with a gun every two | ||
| hours, and the state's rate of nonfatal gun injuries is 27 percent | ||
| higher than the national rate; guns make domestic violence | ||
| incidents far more likely to end in fatalities, and more than | ||
| 60 percent of intimate partner homicides involve a firearm; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Firearms have vast potential to amplify violence, | ||
| and Texas has experienced some of the nation's worst mass shootings | ||
| in recent years; the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting | ||
| claimed 26 lives and left 20 people wounded; the next year, a | ||
| 17-year-old student killed 10 and injured 13 at Santa Fe High | ||
| School; 2019 brought even more devastation, when a single month saw | ||
| both the massacre at an El Paso Walmart that left 23 dead and 25 | ||
| wounded and the shooting spree in Midland-Odessa that resulted in 7 | ||
| dead and 25 injured; in 2022, an 18-year-old gunman shot his | ||
| grandmother before attacking Robb Elementary School, where 21 | ||
| perished and 17 suffered injury; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Survivors of gun violence may experience severe | ||
| long-term consequences, ranging from paralysis and other physical | ||
| disabilities to problems with memory, thinking, and emotions, as | ||
| well as chronic mental health conditions such as post-traumatic | ||
| stress disorder; even in the absence of physical injury, exposure | ||
| to such violence can have enduring negative effects on child health | ||
| and development, and the effects of firearm violence extend beyond | ||
| victims and their families; mass shooting incidents can affect the | ||
| sense of safety and security of entire communities and impact | ||
| everyday decisions; the National Center for PTSD estimates that | ||
| 28 percent of people who have witnessed a mass shooting develop the | ||
| condition, while about a third develop acute stress disorder; | ||
| incidents of mass violence have an enormous behavioral health | ||
| impact on most people, whether they are survivors, witnesses, or | ||
| exposed through mass media; moreover, active shooter drills in | ||
| schools, implemented widely in response to mass shootings, are | ||
| associated with increases in depression, stress, anxiety, and | ||
| physiological problems among students, their teachers, and their | ||
| parents; and | ||
| WHEREAS, From 2019 to 2021, rates of gun-related suicide rose | ||
| by 10 percent, even as suicides by other means decreased by about 8 | ||
| percent; over 26,300 Americans died in suicides involving firearms | ||
| in 2021, a record high; research has shown that access to a gun in | ||
| the home increases the risk of suicide death by 300 percent; as the | ||
| most lethal method of suicide, firearms account for just 5 percent | ||
| of attempts, but more than half of all suicide deaths; the vast | ||
| majority of people who survive an attempted suicide do not try | ||
| again, but only about 10 percent of those who attempt suicide by | ||
| firearm live to get the help they need; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Contrary to some media narratives, a study from The | ||
| University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston concludes that | ||
| there is insufficient evidence to infer that gun violence is caused | ||
| by mental health issues; furthermore, research shows that adults | ||
| with mental illnesses experience violence at high rates, and they | ||
| are more likely to be victims, not perpetrators, of community | ||
| violence; and | ||
| WHEREAS, While the human toll of gun violence is the most | ||
| wrenching, the economic consequences are immense as well, reaching | ||
| $557 billion in an average year, comparable to 2.6 percent of | ||
| U.S. gross domestic product; gun violence imposes myriad burdens on | ||
| society, including work loss, medical and mental health care, | ||
| emergency transportation, police and criminal justice activities, | ||
| insurance claims processing, employer costs, and decreased quality | ||
| of life; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Gun violence is not inevitable, as shown by other | ||
| wealthy nations with gun homicide rates vastly lower than ours; the | ||
| United States has a deeply rooted culture of gun violence that has | ||
| not received the same sustained, data-driven attention and | ||
| government investment as other public health problems, including | ||
| motor vehicle accidents and HIV/AIDS; in addressing those threats, | ||
| scientific research informed a comprehensive public health | ||
| response that dramatically shifted their trajectory; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The size, complexity, and grave social and economic | ||
| consequences of the gun violence epidemic demand a similarly | ||
| comprehensive, science-based approach; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
| hereby declare gun violence a public health crisis. | ||
