Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

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1	1	88R4656 TBO-D
2	2	By: Blanco S.C.R. No. 1
3	3
4	4
5	5	CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
6	6	WHEREAS, Gun violence has reached record levels across the
7	7	United States; and
8	8	WHEREAS, Data from the Centers for Disease Control and
9	9	Prevention shows that incidents involving a firearm are the leading
10	10	cause of death for Americans from 1 to 18 years of age; 3,219 such
11	11	deaths occurred in 2020; and
12	12	WHEREAS, Nearly 49,000 Americans lost their lives to gun
13	13	violence in 2021, according to an analysis by the Johns Hopkins
14	14	Center for Gun Violence Solutions; between 2019 and 2021, homicides
15	15	involving guns increased by 45 percent, compared to just 6 percent
16	16	for other murders; the alarming spike parallels a surge in gun
17	17	purchases during the pandemic, including an increase in sales to
18	18	first-time owners; moreover, tens of thousands of individuals
19	19	suffered nonfatal but life-changing gun injuries; and
20	20	WHEREAS, In Texas, someone is killed with a gun every two
21	21	hours, and the state's rate of nonfatal gun injuries is 27 percent
22	22	higher than the national rate; guns make domestic violence
23	23	incidents far more likely to end in fatalities, and more than
24	24	60 percent of intimate partner homicides involve a firearm; and
25	25	WHEREAS, Firearms have vast potential to amplify violence,
26	26	and Texas has experienced some of the nation's worst mass shootings
27	27	in recent years; the 2017 Sutherland Springs church shooting
28	28	claimed 26 lives and left 20 people wounded; the next year, a
29	29	17-year-old student killed 10 and injured 13 at Santa Fe High
30	30	School; 2019 brought even more devastation, when a single month saw
31	31	both the massacre at an El Paso Walmart that left 23 dead and 25
32	32	wounded and the shooting spree in Midland-Odessa that resulted in 7
33	33	dead and 25 injured; in 2022, an 18-year-old gunman shot his
34	34	grandmother before attacking Robb Elementary School, where 21
35	35	perished and 17 suffered injury; and
36	36	WHEREAS, Survivors of gun violence may experience severe
37	37	long-term consequences, ranging from paralysis and other physical
38	38	disabilities to problems with memory, thinking, and emotions, as
39	39	well as chronic mental health conditions such as post-traumatic
40	40	stress disorder; even in the absence of physical injury, exposure
41	41	to such violence can have enduring negative effects on child health
42	42	and development, and the effects of firearm violence extend beyond
43	43	victims and their families; mass shooting incidents can affect the
44	44	sense of safety and security of entire communities and impact
45	45	everyday decisions; the National Center for PTSD estimates that
46	46	28 percent of people who have witnessed a mass shooting develop the
47	47	condition, while about a third develop acute stress disorder;
48	48	incidents of mass violence have an enormous behavioral health
49	49	impact on most people, whether they are survivors, witnesses, or
50	50	exposed through mass media; moreover, active shooter drills in
51	51	schools, implemented widely in response to mass shootings, are
52	52	associated with increases in depression, stress, anxiety, and
53	53	physiological problems among students, their teachers, and their
54	54	parents; and
55	55	WHEREAS, From 2019 to 2021, rates of gun-related suicide rose
56	56	by 10 percent, even as suicides by other means decreased by about 8
57	57	percent; over 26,300 Americans died in suicides involving firearms
58	58	in 2021, a record high; research has shown that access to a gun in
59	59	the home increases the risk of suicide death by 300 percent; as the
60	60	most lethal method of suicide, firearms account for just 5 percent
61	61	of attempts, but more than half of all suicide deaths; the vast
62	62	majority of people who survive an attempted suicide do not try
63	63	again, but only about 10 percent of those who attempt suicide by
64	64	firearm live to get the help they need; and
65	65	WHEREAS, Contrary to some media narratives, a study from The
66	66	University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston concludes that
67	67	there is insufficient evidence to infer that gun violence is caused
68	68	by mental health issues; furthermore, research shows that adults
69	69	with mental illnesses experience violence at high rates, and they
70	70	are more likely to be victims, not perpetrators, of community
71	71	violence; and
72	72	WHEREAS, While the human toll of gun violence is the most
73	73	wrenching, the economic consequences are immense as well, reaching
74	74	$557 billion in an average year, comparable to 2.6 percent of
75	75	U.S. gross domestic product; gun violence imposes myriad burdens on
76	76	society, including work loss, medical and mental health care,
77	77	emergency transportation, police and criminal justice activities,
78	78	insurance claims processing, employer costs, and decreased quality
79	79	of life; and
80	80	WHEREAS, Gun violence is not inevitable, as shown by other
81	81	wealthy nations with gun homicide rates vastly lower than ours; the
82	82	United States has a deeply rooted culture of gun violence that has
83	83	not received the same sustained, data-driven attention and
84	84	government investment as other public health problems, including
85	85	motor vehicle accidents and HIV/AIDS; in addressing those threats,
86	86	scientific research informed a comprehensive public health
87	87	response that dramatically shifted their trajectory; and
88	88	WHEREAS, The size, complexity, and grave social and economic
89	89	consequences of the gun violence epidemic demand a similarly
90	90	comprehensive, science-based approach; now, therefore, be it
91	91	RESOLVED, That the 88th Legislature of the State of Texas
92	92	hereby declare gun violence a public health crisis.