AUSTIN, Texas — August 31, 2023, is the eighth anniversary of the tragic murder of Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Darren Goforth, and the fourth anniversary of the 2019 Midland/Odessa mass shooting that claimed the lives of eight people, and injured 25, including three law enforcement officers. After this evening’s mass shooting at the Arboretum shopping center in North Austin that claimed the lives of two people and injured three, Gilberto Hinojosa, Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, issued the following statement:

“I have written this statement too many times before, and each tragedy destroys me. My thoughts and prayers are with the communities impacted by this shooting, and the Texans that have lost beloved members of their families. We are grateful for the first responders who arrived at the scene and did heroic work to save lives.

“The gun violence epidemic has now come to North Austin. People visit the Arboretum because they believe it’s a safe place to shop and spend time with friends and family - but today the idyllic shopping center became a center of violence, terror and destruction.

“Texas Republicans have made it clear that flooding our streets with guns is far more important to them than the safety of Texas families. Apparently blood on the ground of yet another Texas shopping center is less important to them than their big money NRA donors and Trump Republican purity tests. That explains why they rammed through terror-inducing legislation like open carry, and fought against commonsense and life-saving Democratic proposals for universal background checks with no “gun show” loopholes, reasonable waiting periods, raising the age to purchase a firearm to 21, enacting “red-flag” laws, and safe gun storage requirements.

“Accepting these massacres as inevitable is a choice: a choice that Texas Republicans like Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz wake up and are proud to make every single day. Texas Democrats believe a safer Texas is possible - a Texas where parents aren’t afraid to send their kids to school, a Texas where friends can shop without fear, a Texas where people can worship in safety. It’s up to us to win at the ballot box over and over and over again, and elect Democrats in every corner of the state.”

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