Bill To Raise Age For Semi-Automatic Rifle Purchases In Texas Falters

The Texas Tribune: Raise-The-Age Gun Misses Key Deadline In Texas House
The unexpected elation felt this week by gun control advocates and families of Uvalde shooting victims dissolved to despair Tuesday, when a bill that would raise the age to legally purchase semi-automatic rifles lost its newfound momentum and was left off the Texas House’s agenda ahead of a key deadline. Barring an unexpected development, the delay likely ends the bill's chances of becoming law. (Serrano, 5/9)

Axios: Allen Gunman Had 8 Guns Bought Legally
The Allen shooter brought eight weapons with him, all of which were purchased legally, authorities said at a news conference Tuesday. (Rajawani-Dharsi, 5/10)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Firearm Fatalities Reach Near Three-Decade High 
Deaths from firearms in Texas — the vast majority of them suicides or homicides — have continued rising in Texas, reaching levels not seen in almost three decades. At the same time, Texas relaxed its gun laws in a decadeslong push to expand Second Amendment rights in the state, most recently in 2021 when Gov. Greg Abbott signed what Republicans called a “constitutional carry” bill into law, allowing Texans to carry handguns without a license or training. (Douglas and Ford, 5/10)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

ABC News: 1 Dead After Shooting In Hospital In Richmond, Virginia; Alleged Shooter In Custody
One man is dead after being shot inside of a Richmond, Virginia, hospital early Wednesday morning. Another man, the alleged shooter, is in custody. VCU and Richmond Police responded to a call that came in at about 12:04 a.m. about shots fired inside VCU Medical Center North Hospital. A fight broke out between two men resulting in one shooting the other, police said. (DiMartino and Corujo, 5/10)

AP: Sheriff: Louisiana Man Shot Child Playing Hide And Seek 
A Louisiana man faces aggravated assault and battery charges after firing a gun at children who were playing hide and seek outside his home, wounding a 14-year-old girl, according to the local sheriff’s office. The girl suffered a gunshot wound to the back of the head early Sunday, and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement posted on social media Monday. (5/9)

CNN: Black And Hispanic People Exposed To Gun Violence In Chicago At 'Significantly And Persistently Higher Rate,' Report Says
Black and Hispanic people who grew up in Chicago were exposed to gun violence at a “significantly and persistently higher rate” by age 40 than their White counterparts, a new report shows. The findings were published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open and stem from a survey that followed the lives of thousands of children in Chicago since the mid-1990s. In the new report, researchers examined the exposure that some of the survey’s participants had to gun violence from 1995 to 2021. (Chavez, 4/9)

St. Louis Public Radio: Why Do Kids Get Shot In St. Louis? A New Study Shows Just How Little We Know
In St. Louis, the prevalence of gun violence is driving researchers to better understand the causes behind these incidents. But a new study that evaluated three years of medical data from St. Louis Children's Hospital found that the majority of children injured by guns weren’t victims of negligent adults or picking up firearms themselves. Instead, the analysis, which analyzed 156 cases of children injured by guns between 2014 and 2017, found that just 13% were caused by intentional assaults. Nearly two-thirds of victims were “shot outdoors by an unknown shooter, the motivation of which was unknown.” (Wicentowski, 5/9)

NPR: A Grim History Of AR-15s And American Tragedies 
The AR-15, like its military version, is designed to kill people quickly and in large numbers. The National Rifle Association calls it "America's Rifle." Critics say the weapon has no valid recreational use and civilians should not be allowed to own them. (Franklin, 5/10)

Also —

The Washington Post: S.C. Deputies Fired Shots At Man During Wellness Check, Lawsuit Says 
Trevor Mullinax needed help. There was a shotgun in the cab of the pickup truck where he sat, parked in a South Carolina field. He was contemplating suicide. Tammy Beason, his mother, stood next to the truck trying to talk him down. Then, four deputies from the York County Sheriff’s Office drove up to Mullinax’s truck. A family member had called for a wellness check, according to a newly filed lawsuit. But the officers rode in “like cowboys from a John Wayne movie,” the lawsuit alleges. In a confrontation captured by dashboard and body-worn cameras, they can be seen quickly drawing their guns and firing at Mullinax, riddling his windshield with bullet holes. Beason, who was inches away, screamed and darted to the side. (Wu, 5/10)

If you are in need of help —

Dial 9-8-8 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.