

Shanahan said that the Democrat's actions are "garnering O'Rourke headlines, which, no doubt is his immediate goal. "This was a very deliberate attempt to cut through the overly familiar 'thoughts and prayers' narrative to challenge the Texas administration to actually do something tangible to stop a repeat of Uvalde," he said. "Yesterday's lineup on stage in Uvalde, with GOP officials ranged around Abbott, looked like some terrible pastiche of the Last Supper and O'Rourke wasn't there by chance," Shanahan said. He told Newsweek on Thursday that O'Rourke "needs to change the debate significantly" if he wants to defeat Abbott, who is ahead in the polls.Ī poll from The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler published on May 15 showed Abbott with 46 percent support to O'Rourke's 39 percent. and co-editor of T he Trump Presidency: From Campaign Trail to World Stage. Mark Shanahan is an associate professor at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Reading University in the U.K. Gun control is highly likely to remain a major issue in the gubernatorial race, especially as Abbott has often touted the fact that he has eased the state's gun laws. Eighteen percent strongly approved and 17 percent approved somewhat.
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An October poll found that 42 percent of Texans strongly opposed a state law allowing legal gun owners over the age of 21 to carry handguns in most public places without a license or training, while 13 percent were somewhat opposed.Ī further 19 percent strongly supported it and 19 percent somewhat supported the law, which came into effect in September.Īnother poll in October showed that 32 percent of Texans strongly disapproved of how state leaders and the legislature had handled gun violence, while 9 percent disapproved somewhat. However, other polling from the Texas Politics Project may indicate that there's room for O'Rourke to focus on guns. Those figures could prove a problem for O'Rourke as he takes a hard line on regulating firearms. Greg Abbott on in Uvalde, Texas Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images Texas has more than one million gun owners and in a 2020 study by the RAND Corporation, 45.7 percent of adults in Texas said they live in homes with guns.Ī February poll conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin found that 43 percent of Texans were in favor of stricter gun laws, but 34 percent wanted the laws left as they are and 16 percent believed the laws should be less strict, while 7 percent of respondents didn't know or had no opinion.ĭemocratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks to the media after interrupting a press conference held by Texas Gov. Each one of those has broad bipartisan support." Texans' Views on Gun Laws Those are four solutions that have been brought up by the people of Texas. "You want a solution? Red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders, which stop a shooting before it happens," O'Rourke went on. We don't have them," he told a gaggle of journalists. You want a solution? Have universal background checks. "You want a solution? Stop selling AR-15s in the state of Texas. On Wednesday, O'Rourke spoke to reporters after he was escorted out of Abbott's press conference and said the governor has "refused to support a ban on AR-15s and AK-47s." He will face Abbott in November's gubernatorial election where the Republican is seeking a third term leading the deep red state and it's possible O'Rourke's stance on guns will hurt his chances.

O'Rourke, a Democrat, confronted Republican Governor Greg Abbott and other GOP elected officials as they held a press conference on Wednesday and accused the Texas governor of "doing nothing" about gun control following the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde that left 19 children and two adults dead. Representative Beto O'Rourke's actions following the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas could potentially cost him the governor's race in a state famous for supporting gun rights.
