About 35 Gun Bills on Day One: Texas Prefiling Opens With an Under-21 Ban, Red-Flag Orders and Private-Sale Background Checks
Less than a week after Democrats won the governor's office and the Texas House, prefiling for the 90th Legislature opened Monday with a wave of firearm proposals — SB 80, HB 218 and HB 613 among them. Republicans still hold the Senate, and that is the obstacle every one of these bills has to clear.
AUSTIN — Texas opened bill prefiling season on Monday, and firearms arrived on the first day. The National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action counted roughly 35 firearm-related bills filed on day one and described most as restrictions on gun ownership or transfers, according to the Alaska Story's November 10 report on the Texas filings, read in full by this desk. The proposals arrive less than a week after Democrats captured the Texas governorship and a House majority in the November 3 elections, although Republicans retained the Senate — a substantial obstacle to passage, even as the filings show what gun-control advocates want lawmakers to consider.
Three measures frame the wave. SB 80, by Democratic Sen. Judith Zaffirini, would prohibit people under 21 from purchasing or possessing firearms covered by its definition of "assault weapon" — a definition that includes many semiautomatic centerfire rifles with detachable magazines and features such as a pistol grip or folding stock — with specified defenses, including prior lawful possession; it would also restrict transfers to that age group, with a proposed effective date of September 1, 2027. HB 218, by Rep. Johnson, would establish extreme risk protective orders, including their issuance and enforcement, and create criminal offenses. HB 613, by Rep. Suleman Lalani, would require a national instant criminal background check in connection with private firearm transfers and create a criminal offense. Other measures identified by NRA-ILA address firearm storage, reporting requirements for multiple purchases, local authority to regulate firearms, and additional restrictions affecting adults ages 18 through 20.
Filing is not passage, and this desk reports the distance plainly. Texas lawmakers convene on January 12, 2027, and the governor-elect and lieutenant governor-elect are not sworn in until January 19. Republicans' continued Senate majority means the Democratic gains elsewhere do not guarantee any of these proposals a floor vote, let alone a signature. What day one establishes is the agenda the new House majority and the incoming administration's allies intend to press — and the first test of it comes when committees are organized in January.
