Texas governor OKs budget with $1M gun storage safety effort

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has approved a spending bill that includes a $1 million public safety campaign for firearm storage.

The Republican signed a $250 billion two-year budget Saturday without any line-item vetoes. It includes money for the Texas Department of Public Safety to promote a safe gun storage campaign.

The National Rifle Association and gun-rights activists had opposed similar legislation in Texas, where they’ve been a powerful force in a state with 1.3 million handgun license holders.

An NRA lobbyist told lawmakers that a campaign designed by Texas state police could be corrupted by anti-gun rhetoric.

The program follows a mass shooting at a high school near Houston last year. Authorities have said the then-17-year-old gunman took his father’s weapons before opening fire at Santa Fe High School.