Polls show a single-digit race, but the stakes in the debate were especially high for O’Rourke in what remains an uphill climb to become the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in nearly 30 years.
Abbott, a potential 2024 presidential contender who in eight years as governor has loosened Texas’ firearm restrictions and signed a law doing away with background checks for concealed handguns, waved off calls for stricter gun controls since the Uvalde attack, which also killed two teachers.
Uvalde families have put at the top of their demands raising the minimum age to purchase an AR-15-style rifle like the one used in the shooting from 18 to 21 years old. Florida raised the minimum age weeks after the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018 under a law signed by then-Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Abbott has said that raising the age would be “unconstitutional” because of recent court rulings, an assessment criticized by legal experts. “No parent should lose a child and we want to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen. We want to end school shootings,” Abbott said of raising the age to purchase AR-15-style weapons. “’But we cannot do that by making false promises.”
O’Rourke, who has been haunted in his campaign by his support of confiscating such weapons while running for president in 2019, did not directly answer when he asked if he still supported the position. “I’m for making progress,” he said.
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