2019 marked the second time in recent history that 37 people in Texas lost their lives in mass shootings, a record high for at least the past decade. People across the world watched images of the El Paso and Odessa mass shootings unfold, and more victims still were killed across the state in incidents that drew fewer headlines, reports the Austin American-Statesman. Last year, the residents of El Paso and Odessa found their cities thrust into the limelight for the worst of reasons, but have rallied. On Aug. 3, 22 people were killed and two dozen others were injured after a gunman went on a rampage in a Walmart in El Paso. The next month, a man with an AR-style weapon opened fire during a routine traffic stop to begin a 10-mile rampage between Odessa and Midland that killed seven people, injured 25 others — including three law enforcement officers — and ended with officers gunning him down outside a movie theater.
The 37 who died in mass shootings in the state tied the total from 2017, found an Associated Press analysis. Texas lawmakers this fall formed House and Senate committees to examine mass violence prevention and community safety. The panels plan to release recommendations in 2020 for what solutions lawmakers should propose during the 2021 legislative session. Vice chair of the Senate committee Judith Zaffirini hopes to take “an evidence-based approach to ending the scourge of mass violence in Texas.” She said, “We must take meaningful actions to ensure that gun violence will not plague our schools, our streets and our places of worship.”