New gun safety group heads to Austin to push for gun bills
PLANO (CBSNewsTexas.com) -- A group of parents left Plano for Austin Monday morning with hopes of sparking change after the deadly the mass shooting at the Allen Premium Outlets.
Collin County Parents Against Gun Violence formed after the mass shooting to spark change in the state's gun laws.
"We don't feel safe and we want it to be addressed," said Ann Bacchus, one of the parents involved.
Many members live in the same neighborhoods as the victims of the Allen shooting.
"This shooting in Allen is now in our backyard," said parent Kelly Karthik.
The group made orange t-shirts in a show of solidarity, and ordered a charter bus to travel together to Austin, to speak with lawmakers in person.
The group is focused on five bills which include provisions like universal background checks, reasonable waiting periods, raising the age to purchase a semi-automatic weapon to 21, red flag laws and safe storage laws.
"I ask them, I beg them to do something," said parent Saif Islam.
"Some of us come from minority communities and i don't want my local grocery store to be a target because a lot of us are brown skin are over there. because this is just not a gun issue, it was also a white supremacist issue there's a mental health issue," said parent Rekha Suryanarayana.
The group has meetings planned with a number of lawmakers, including State Rep. Jeff Leach and State Sen. Angela Paxton, Republicans who represent parts of Collin County.