Texas brainstorms on securing schools

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott convened the first in a series of discussions on school safety Tuesday, declaring in response to last week's shooting near Houston, "We all want guns out of the hands of people who would try to murder our children."

The governor called the meetings after the attack on Santa Fe High School, where eight students and two teachers were slain Friday in an art classroom. The initial gathering involved officials from school districts that arm some teachers or hire local police for security.

Abbott planned to talk today with gun-rights advocates and gun-control groups, followed Thursday by meetings with survivors of the Santa Fe shooting and the November attack on a church in the rural village of Sutherland Springs, where more than two dozen worshippers were killed.

The Republican governor has been a staunch supporter of gun rights, and there has been little mention of any new weapons restrictions in Texas, where more than 1.2 million people are licensed to carry handguns and state law allows for the open possession of rifles. The state's top GOP leaders have instead called for "hardening" school campuses and arming more teachers.

"Every time there's a shooting, everyone wants to talk about what the problem is," Abbott said before the meeting was closed to the media. "By now, we know what the problem is. The problem is innocent people are being shot. That must be stopped."

The Santa Fe High gunman used a handgun and a shotgun that were owned by his father, police have said. It's unclear whether the father was aware that his son had taken the weapons.

"The reality is we all want guns out of the hands of people who would try to murder our children. The question is, what are we, the leaders of Texas, going to do to prevent this from happening again?" the governor said.

One gun-control group, Texas Gun Sense, said it will push this week for tougher background checks on gun purchases, suicide-prevention programs, gun safety at home and so-called "red flag" laws that restrict gun access for people identified as potentially dangerous.

"We can't do gun violence prevention without being optimistic. We are glad the governor invited us," said Gyl Switzer, executive director of Texas Gun Sense. "We need immediate action. School starts in the fall, and we can't be fooling around."

The Texas State Rifle Association, which has played a key role in getting state lawmakers to relax gun licensing and passing open-carry laws in recent years, dismissed a call for new gun restrictions.

Alice Tripp, the rifle association's legislative director, said the guns used in the Santa Fe attack are common in many Texas homes.

"That's about as basic of a firearm as you can possible get. Assigning blame to a particular firearm or a caliber, that's not helpful. You've got to look at whatever is that happened and see what failed," Tripp said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Texas should consider limiting school access, perhaps by reducing the number of entrances and arming more teachers, which is already allowed under Texas law.

A handful of lawmakers have called on Abbott to convene a special legislative session to address school safety. The Legislature isn't scheduled to meet until January.

FATHER: SON A VICTIM

Antonios Pagourtzis, the father of the 17-year-old suspect, Dimitrios, meanwhile said his son should be seen as a "victim" because he may have recently been bullied, causing him to lash out.

In a phone interview over the weekend with Greece's Antenna TV, Antonios Pagourtzis said he wished he could have stopped the killing at Santa Fe High. His voice cracked as he described how he told police to let him inside the school so his son could kill him instead. He said he suspects his son was under pressure, perhaps due to bullying.

"Something must have happened now, this last week," he told the station. "Somebody probably came and hurt him, and since he was a solid boy, I don't know what could have happened. I can't say what happened. All I can say is what I suspect as a father."

The suspect's attorney, Nicholas Poehl, has said he is investigating whether his client endured any "teacher-on-student" bullying after reading reports of the teen being mistreated by football coaches. The school district issued a statement saying it investigated the accusations and "confirmed that these reports were untrue."

The elder Pagourtzis said his son took a legally owned shotgun and handgun from his closet before leaving for school that day. The teen didn't own firearms of his own, he said.

"My son, to me, is not a criminal, he's a victim," he said. "The kid didn't own guns. I owned guns."

Dimitrios Pagourtzis is being held in the Galveston County jail on capital murder charges.

A Section on 05/23/2018