What changes can happen after mass shooting in Texas?

Reporter: Dannielle Garcia Writer: Derrick Shaw
Published: Updated:

Video of students rushing out of school.

Parents crying out for their children.

And law enforcement officers with their guns drawn.

The images and stories from the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are difficult to watch and hear for students and teachers across the country.

A look at school shootings in the last 10 years shows a large number of the shooters had a history of being bullied or struggling with mental illness.

According to federal reports, Florida had more than 400 students for every counselor.

A mass shooting reignites the debate on gun control but one political expert said he doesn’t see significant gun legislation in the nation’s near future.

Policy action is hard to hope for, according to UCF political scientist Aubrey Jewett.

“The simple fact is, it’s in the Constitution, and you have a lot of conservative Republicans and even some conservative Democrats still, who don’t want to infringe on the right to bear arms,” Jewett said.

But sometimes, in the fact of tragedy, the wedge can narrow.

In Florida, that happened after Parkland.

“Florida was nicknamed the gun shine state by some gun rights advocates say 10 years ago, because we also had fairly lax gun control laws. But in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, we did have a Republican governor and Republican legislature come together with Democrats, and they did craft some new laws, red flag laws, and also prohibition against people under 21 buying like an assault-like weapon,” Jewett said.

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