State lawmakers working to prevent mass shootings visit Odessa

Family members who lost loved ones during a mass shooting in Odessa spoke during a hearing in front of the Mass Shooting Prevention and Community Safety Committee. They urged the lawmakers to pass gun reform laws.

A shooting victim’s family made a demand for change at a Mass Violence Prevention and Community Safety Committee hearing in Odessa.

The Texas House committee was formed after the mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa earlier this year. This was its first meeting in Odessa.

Joseph Griffith’s family testified during the hearing. He was one of the seven people killed by a gunman who drove from Midland to Odessa on Aug. 31.

Griffith’s family asked the committee for red flag laws and background checks on private gun sales.

“Please do not, do not let my brother have died in vein. I absolutely cannot have that nor should you,” his sister Carla Byrne said. “We all have loved ones. And with that, I urge you to recommend a compressive background check law and red flag laws in the committee’s final report.”

Other people at the hearing spoke out against gun law reform.

The committee’s next hearing will be held in El Paso in the coming weeks.

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