The parents of a child killed in the Uvalde school shooting rejected a meeting with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott over his stance on gun control
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- The parents of Uvalde victim Alexandra Rubio, 10, declined a meeting with Greg Abbott.
- They told the NYT that Alexandra would not have wanted them to meet the Republican governor.
- They are calling for Abbott to ban AR-15-type guns like the one used in the shooting.
The parents of a 10-year-old girl killed in the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting said they declined an invitation to meet Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
They said they rejected the offer because of his refusal to support new laws to restrict access to firearms.
Alexandra "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10, was one of 19 children killed when a gunman attacked Robb Elementary School in Uvalde last Tuesday. The gunman also killed two teachers before being shot dead by law enforcement.
In an interview with The New York Times, her parents Kimberly and Felix Rubio said Abbott's officer called offering them a meeting on the day after the shooting. They said they turned it down.
"My first thought was, 'My Lexi doesn't even like him," Kimberly Rubio told the Times. "She was really little, but we talked about this stuff at home."
The parents want lawmakers to ban AR-15 semi-automatic weapons, the kind of gun used in a series of mass shootings, including the Uvalde attack.
"We live in this really small town in this red state, and everyone keeps telling us, you know, that it's not the time to be political, but it is — it is," Kimberly Rubio told the Times. "Don't let this happen to anybody else."
Felix Rubio, a deputy at the Uvalde County Sheriff's Office, told the Times that he expected that some members of his department would oppose his views. Nonetheless he argued that more restrictive gun laws could help prevent another tragedy like Uvalde's.
"Our baby wanted to be a lawyer; she wanted to make a difference," Kimberly Rubio said. "Please make sure she makes one now."
On the morning of the shooting, her parents had been at the school to watch Lexi Rubio receive a good citizenship award and an honor roll award for getting "As" in her exam results. "We had no idea this was goodbye," Kimberly Rubio said in a Facebook post.
Felix Rubio told KSAT he was off duty when the shooting broke out and attended the scene to try and help his daughter but was not allowed into the classroom where the gunman had barricaded himself. The police response to the shooting has been heavily criticized, and is now being investigated by the Justice Department.
Abbott was booed by parents on a visit to the school Sunday to lay flowers at a memorial to the victims of the shooting. He told reporters that he expected to enact new laws in the wake of the tragedy, but when pressed by reporters on what they would be he said they'd focus not on gun control but on mental health.
"You can expect robust discussion and my hope is laws passed that I will sign addressing health care in this state,"Abbott said. "There are an array of health issues that relate to those who commit gun crimes."
Since two mass shooting in 2019, Abbott has weakened Texas' gun laws to make them among the least restrictive in the US.
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