Austin (US): Texas will allow more teachers to have guns in school and will increase mental health services for students under bills that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Thursday as major parts of the state's response to a 2018 mass shooting at a high school near Houston. School districts will be allowed to place as many armed teachers or school personnel on campus as they see fit. The new laws also are designed to put more mental health counselors on campus, train teachers to recognize mental health problems and create "threat assessment teams" to help identify potentially dangerous students. "We are proud to have responded to one of the most horrific days in the state of Texas," the Republican governor said of the shooting at Santa Fe High School in which eight students and two teachers were killed. "We can never erase the pain that this tragedy caused, but we can act to make our schools safer."

Lawmakers also approved separate measures to "harden" campuses with metal detectors, vehicle barriers, new security doors, shooter alarm systems and other means. Abbott called school safety one of his top priorities this year, but he and the Republican-majority Legislature made no move to restrict the sale or possession of guns in a state with more than 1.3 million handgun license holders. Efforts to create so-called "red flag" laws to keep guns away from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others, and to toughen penalties for negligent home storage were defeated. Addressing mental health and a push to arm more school personnel quickly became the focus for lawmakers. A push for red flag laws, "Right now it's not necessary in the state of Texas," Abbott said.