To Rep. Lloyd Doggett, Governor Greg Abbott’s recently completed roundtable on school safety had a familiar ring. It reminded him of President Trump’s “listening session” earlier this year with the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.
Trump’s session provided a top-of-the-fold photo op, but it only resulted in a single concrete effort to rein in access to guns — a ban on bump stocks — and that was dropped soon after the National Rifle Association cranked up pressure on lawmakers.
“Greg Abbott has taken the Trump approach, which is to convene some people, appoint a committee and hope the whole thing goes away,” said Doggett, a San Antonio-Austin Democrat who participated in the 2016 pro-gun control sit-in on the House floor.