U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) held a virtual meeting on Tuesday (May 31) with a bipartisan group of senators to discuss gun legislation in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde and Tops Grocery Store in Buffalo, New York, per a report from San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS that was ran by sister station KVUE.
According to KENS, Cornyn met with Democrat Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and partymate Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to lay a groundwork for a deal on such measures.
Cornyn left the dialogue pleased, anticipating similar discussions in the future.
“Sens. Murphy, Sinema, Tillis and I had a very constructive conversation about the best response to the horrific events in Uvalde last week,” the senator said, according to KENS. “We’ve asked our staff to continue to work together to address some of the details that we hope to be able to discuss at some point soon.”
Murphy added to Cornyn’s sentiments about the meeting.
“My plan is to get a comprehensive bill that will save lives, but if we can’t get that compromise we’re going to go ahead and put everybody on the record,” he said, per the station.
When discussing the bipartisan meeting, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) implied that any work toward gun laws should focus on mental illness and school safety, KENS reported.
“We have a group led by Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Murphy on the Democratic side, discussing how we might be able to come together to target the problem,” McConnell said, according to the station. “This is mental illness and school safety. We’re getting back at it next week and hope to have results.”
Back in Texas, state leaders from both sides of the aisle have yet to meet on the issue.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) interrupted a press conference held by Gov. Greg Abbott late last month to request a special session, according to a report from Austin NBC affiliate KXAN, Austin Journal reported.
The governor issued a disaster declaration for the City of Uvalde on Tuesday (May 31) that will speed up all available state and local resources to help the grief-stricken community of 16,000.
