El Paso county leaders discuss creating gun safety storage program

EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso County leaders are looking for ways to curb all forms of gun violence, not just mass shootings, throughout the Borderland.

This comes after the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 21 people dead,

A discussion about creating a gun safety storage program was held during Monday's county commissioner meeting.

Commissioner David Stout proposed the idea, siting a safe gun storage campaign by the state that was created in light of the Firearm Carry Act of 2021, which allows those over the age of 21 to carry a gun without a license.

"It's simply too easy to just grab a gun and use it on impulse," Stout said. El Paso unfortunately is no stranger to gun violence after a mass shooting at Walmart in 2019.

"There are proposals regarding strategies such as increasing background checks, risk prevention policies for domestic violence perpetrators and other violent people, stronger license requirements, raising the age limit to buy certain weapons, bans for further limits on certain types of weapons or accessories, but those are all largely federal and state mandates or issues and though, I do believe that we should continue to advocate for those changes from our level of government, we don't get to directly approve those polices," Stout said.

No official program was formally created during the meeting, but it could include anything from creating a safe gun locker to hosting educational opportunities in conjunction with the Sheriff's Office.

During the meeting, the County Attorney said there's already first gun surrender program created by the protective order court that allows someone to surrender a gun if a judge issues a protective order. The county could likely piggyback off this program.

You can watch Tuesday's meeting by clicking here.