Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Calls for Increased Gun Control
Jose Nino
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Due to an increase in crime, especially gun-related crime, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is calling for increased gun control. Turner claims that the number of mass shootings have increased in Texas, specifically in the cities, since Constitutional Carry was passed in 2021.
Abbott signed Constitutional Carry into law in June 2021. According to Houston Public Media, Texas experienced 65 mass shootings from 13, 2021 to June 13, 2022. From 2020 to 2021, Texas experienced 40 mass shootings.
“The numbers are more alarming when you consider the victims of the mass shootings,” Turner declared. “In the one-year period before the bill was signed 187 people were killed and injured during mass shootings in Texas. In the one year after, 375 people killed or injured in mass shootings in Texas.”
This sharp rise in shootings prompted Turner to call for gun control to address this problem.
“Not one gun law has been changed since the mass shooting in Uvalde,” Turner continued. “Those who are 18 years old can have a gun with no background or training; there are more guns than people.”
In Houston’s case, Turner claims homicides have dropped 3% compared to the same period in 2021. Other violent crimes are also down across the city.
The problem with Turner’s proposal is that crime is more than just a question of a jurisdiction’s gun policies. The fact is that Texas has some of the nation’s most diverse cities, which lends them to being quite violent.
On top of that, we live in a time when law enforcement has been heavily demoralized and effectively defanged thanks to the “Ferguson Effect”. It’s ultimately law and order policies — those that keep criminals behind bars and make sure that individuals exhibiting criminal tendencies at an early age get disciplined — that will make cities safe.
Gun control will only further empower criminals, who don’t care about gun control and will acquire their firearms on the black market. The best way to tackle crime such as mass shootings is by allowing for lawful individuals to be armed and having stronger criminal justice policies in place.
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