Sister of Uvalde capturing sufferer testifies earlier than Texas lawmakers: “I’m terrified to go back” to high school

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With her voice shaking as she delivered testimony to lawmakers, Jazmin Cazares, the sister of Jackie Cazares, who was slain throughout a mass capturing final month at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, referred to as for tighter background checks, purple flag legal guidelines and for lawmakers to “do something” to forestall future mass shootings.

“This morning around 5:30 a.m. I sat on my sister’s bed and I cried, I cried and I cried,” she stated. “[Then] I wiped my tears, got in my car and drove four hours to get here. I shouldn’t have to be here right now. I should be at home watching a movie with my sister — it’s summer.”

Cazares, 17, advised lawmakers she was testifying in honor of her sister Jackie and her cousin Annabell Rodriguez, who was additionally killed by a gunman who took the lives of 19 youngsters and two lecturers. She referred to as Jackie “one of the sweetest souls anyone will ever meet” who needed to journey to Paris when she graduated from highschool.

Cazares stated her household was nonetheless in shock as they proceed to be taught particulars of the capturing, saying there are indicators the gunman may have been stopped earlier than he dedicated the bloodbath on the college.

“I’m here begging for you guys to do something,” Cazares stated. “I’m here to honor Jackie, her friends, their families, my family and my community. You can honor them, too, by passing gun safety legislation.”

Cazares sat within the entrance row of the committee room together with her mother, dad, uncle, aunt and cousin sporting shirts with a picture of her sister Jackie portrayed as an angel. The assembly is the primary joint listening to by the House committees on Homeland Security and Public Safety and Youth Health and Safety, which have been tasked with making suggestions for motion the Legislature can take to handle mass shootings. The listening to additionally included witness testimony from native regulation enforcement officers who urged the Legislature to go gun restrictions like elevating the age to purchase a firearm.

Cazares stated she has one 12 months left of highschool however is not sure whether or not she’ll return to high school subsequent 12 months.

“I’m terrified for my life to go back,” she stated. “I have senior year and that’s it. Am I going to survive it? It’s unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.”

Cazares stated lawmakers ought to come collectively to go purple flag legal guidelines, which might permit native officers to take somebody’s weapons away if a decide declares them to be a hazard, and stated they may save lives. She additionally referred to as for stricter background checks for gun gross sales.

“Background checks are needed to protect innocent communities like mine from being in danger by people who are unstable and signal that they are threats,” she stated.

After her testimony, Cazares stated in an interview with reporters,”I hope they listen. I hope they change something.”

“I think people knowing that I lost someone, knowing that it hits so close to home, and other than the survivors I’m the closest thing they’re going to get to those kids,” she stated, including she believed they have been listening to her plea. “I think they realize that. It’s coming from me. I was directly affected.”

Cazares, who stated she plans to proceed advocating for gun security measures, stated her household had not been invited to talk in entrance of different lawmaker panels. The Senate committee in command of the response to the Uvalde capturing met twice this week.

She additionally stated her household had not heard from Gov. Greg Abbott because the day after the capturing.

“We talked to him the day after and he seemed genuine, as well, but like you can fake being genuine,” she stated.

Abbott and different Texas Republican leaders have to this point confirmed resistance to gun restriction measures, opting to pursue efforts to harden faculties and enhance sources for psychological well being.

Outside the committee room, her father Javier Cazares, was crucial of the regulation enforcement response to the capturing and the discharge of inaccurate data to the general public.

“We went to the press conference and they painted a pretty picture that they went in quick and swiftly and took the subject out,” he stated. “Later on, they said it took about 35, 45 minutes in that scene. Well, that’s not a quick. It should have been over in five minutes or less.”

“I don’t believe anything they say,” he added. “Nobody wants to get the blame for what their actions were that day. So yeah, they’re gonna cover up. That’s what they want. They don’t want to give those body cam videos.”

Javier Cazares stated he helps the discharge of the police physique cam movies from the scene as a result of he desires to see the actions of law enforcement officials. But he stated he doesn’t need to see the carnage contained in the classroom.

“As a father, I want to see,” he stated.

Cazares’ testimony was adopted by that of capturing survivor and former state lawmaker Suzanna Hupp, who advocated towards stricter background checks and different gun security laws. Hupp, whose dad and mom have been slain in a 1991 capturing at Luby’s cafeteria after she left her gun in her automotive for concern of dropping her gun license, additionally pushed for the state to “end gun-free zones.”

Hupp grew to become a gun rights advocate after the capturing that killed her dad and mom and helped push for Texas to permit individuals to legally carry hid weapons. She additionally served within the Legislature and continues to push for entry to weapons.

A gaggle representing the Texas Police Chiefs Association advised lawmakers they supported strengthening background checks for gun purchases and laws that will elevate the age for purchasing an assault rifle from 18 to 21.

“We believe in reasonable changes which include raising the age to 21 for these style weapons,” stated Stan Standridge, the police chief for the San Marcos Police Department.

The group additionally expressed help for payments geared toward making a state legal offense for “straw purchases,” when somebody buys a gun for somebody who’s barred from shopping for a gun. Straw purchases are a federal offense, however the police chiefs stated it’s hardly ever prosecuted by the feds.

The panel was additionally crucial of the regulation enforcement response to the Uvalde capturing, saying regulation enforcement officers are taught protocols for such mass capturing incidents. Standridge stated the officers responding to the incident didn’t seem to lack tools, however had a “commitment issue” and one other police chief stated “incident command is maintained until relinquished.”

Brian Hawthorne, the president of the Sheriff’s Association of Texas, was additionally crucial of the regulation enforcement response in Uvalde.

“There’s no doubt, the sheriff’s association believes that police officers should have taken bullets, not children,” stated Hawthorne, the sheriff of Chambers County and a former DPS trooper.

The native regulation enforcement officers’ suggestions to lawmakers have been practically equivalent to the suggestions it made two years in the past when state leaders convened particular committees to answer the mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa in 2019. Those committees stopped their work when COVID-19 hit the U.S. in March 2020 and by no means issued the legislative suggestions they have been tasked with offering earlier than the 2021 legislative session.

Rep. Drew Darby, R-San Angelo, who led the particular House committee and now sits on the brand new Youth Health and Safety Committee, apologized to the police panel for not making any progress because the final mass shootings that hit the state.

“I quite frankly am embarrassed that almost the same list that you provided in 2020 is intact and delivered in the same form to this committee than it was two years ago,” Darby stated. “We need to start checking some things off your list.”

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