Patrick wants $50M for ballistic shields

With Texas lawmakers out of session until January, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday said state leaders should immediately spend $50 million to equip school police, and ultimately all law enforcement, with bulletproof shields in the hopes of staving off future mass shootings.

Patrick, a Republican who presides over the state Senate, called on House Speaker Dade Phelan to join him this week in approving the funds, which he said would be used to buy shields for “every school district officer in the state who does not have one.”

Patrick’s request comes 10 days after a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. State authorities have since revealed that police officers waited for nearly an hour outside the classroom where the massacre unfolded, before a team of Border Patrol agents — armed with ballistic shields — entered the room and fatally shot the gunman.

“If all responding law enforcement had bulletproof shields ... lives may have been saved,” Patrick said, calling his plan a “straightforward solution (that) can begin right away.”

State law allows the lieutenant governor, House speaker and the chief budget writers in each legislative chamber to transfer existing funds within an agency, or from one agency to another, when the Legislature is not in session.

The next session is scheduled to begin in January unless Gov. Greg Abbott calls a special session in the meantime. The Republican governor last week asked Patrick and Phelan to form temporary committees to come up with school safety proposals before next session, signaling he is unlikely to order a special session despite calls from Democrats and activists to do so.

With companies reporting spikes in demand for bulletproof gear, Patrick acknowledged the state could run into initial supply chain delays if they attempt to buy a mass quantity of shields.

But, he said, “we should buy every quality shield we can find and order the rest so we are at the front of the line when more become available.”