A student walked into Santa Fe High School outside Galveston, Texas on Friday and began shooting his classmates, murdering eight students and two teachers.
The horrific shooting comes at a time of increased focus on gun policy issues nationwide, brought to the forefront by survivors of another school shooting in Parkland, Fla., just three months ago.
Following that shooting, a group of student survivors laid out a policy agenda consisting of five items intended to help reduce the toll of American gun violence. Those items include:
1. Dedicated funding for the CDC to research gun violence
2. Strengthening the ATF’s ability to track and record gun sales
3. Universal background checks for gun purchases
4. A ban on magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition
5. A ban on assault weapons, including a registration or buyback program for these weapons already in circulation
Before the Santa Fe shooting, The Washington Post contacted the office of every U.S. representative, multiple times if necessary, to gauge their support or opposition to the proposals, which have yet to be codified into a single bill. We found that while many Democrats were eager to support the proposals, most Republicans did not seem to want to engage on the issue, as evidenced by the high rate of nonresponse among Republican members.
