Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is getting heat on social media for urging Texans to buy more new guns

Governor Greg Abbott of Texas is getting heat on social media for a post from seven years ago in which he urged Texans to buy more new guns. The Republican leader remarked in October 2015 that he was “embarrassed” that Texas was trailing behind California in new gun purchases and urged Texans to “step up the pace.”

“I’M EMBARRASSED: Texas ranks second in the US for new gun purchases, after only CALIFORNIA. “Let’s pick up the pace, Texans,” Abbott tweeted, tagging the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) official handle.

After the latest shooting at an elementary school in Texas, which killed at least 19 children and two adults, social media users dug out this old tweet.

The incident occurred just days before the NRA’s annual meeting in Houston, where Abbott and both Texas senators were due to participate in a forum sponsored by the NRA’s lobbying arm. The fight over gun regulation in Congress has waxed and waned over the years, with Republicans continuing to filibuster to prevent tighter legislation.

#BetoForTexas pic.twitter.com/qiQ7Hy0ZF5

— Dem in Tex😷 (@DebAma818) May 25, 2022

Last year, the House of Representatives passed two proposals to extend background checks on gun transactions, but neither passed the Senate, where Democrats need at least ten Republican votes to break the filibuster.

President Joe Biden of the United States urged Americans to stand up to the gun lobby and urged federal politicians to pass gun control measures immediately. Biden remarked in a national address hours after a deadly shooting in Texas, “Mass shootings decreased after the Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994. Mass shootings tripled after the prohibition expired [in 2004]. It’s absurd that an 18-year-old can stroll into a gun store and purchase assault weapons.”

This news was made from inputs of Hindustan Times.