Texas has experienced some gut-wrenching tragedies as a result of mass shootings in recent months. It is almost the one-year anniversary of the Uvlade elementary school mass shooting. That will be on the 24th of this month. This past weekend, there was a mass shooting at an outdoor outlet mall in an upscale suburb outside of Dallas. A child as young as five was shot in that attack. Less than two weeks ago, a gunman killed five neighbors.

In a bold and surprising move, two Republicans voted with all of the Democrats on the House Select Committee on Community Safety. They voted on legislation to raise the age to purchase an AR-15 rifle from 18 years old to 21 years old. As the vote tally was taken and it was determined that the bill would move out of committee and to the calendar committee, family members of Uvalde victims clapped, cheered, and cried. Members of the Uvalde community have traveled to Austin to show up for the legislative session along with other gun control advocates every week.

Dozens of people chanted, “Raise the age, raise the age,” at a rally before the vote Monday to encourage the lawmakers to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21.

Monday was a key deadline for many House bills to advance. This bill, House Bill 2744, was one of them. Gun control advocates were concerned that HB 2744 would be left in committee and miss the deadline for a vote. That didn’t happen. Two Republicans voted yes with all the Democrats on the committee.

“One year ago today, my daughter had her communion. About a month later, she was buried in that same dress,” Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jacklyn was killed in the Uvalde school shooting, said during a Monday press conference. “Mr. Guillen, and anybody else who is stopping this bill from passing, sad to say but more blood will be on your hands.”

In an unexpected move following the rally and press conference, a meeting for the committee was announced from the House floor Monday. During the meeting, the committee voted 8-5 to advance HB 2744 to the full chamber, with Republican state Reps. Sam Harless of Spring and Justin Holland of Rockwall joining the Democrats in the vote.

Interesting, no? This is Texas.

HB 2744, filed by Democratic Rep. Tracy King of Batesville, would prohibit selling, renting, leasing or giving a semi-automatic rifle with a caliber greater than .22 that is capable of accepting a detachable magazine to a person younger than 21 years old. Parents and relatives of children killed in the Uvalde shooting, as well as King, have said the shooting may have been thwarted had the bill been law last year. A recent University of Texas at Austin survey found a sizable majority of Texas voters — including Republicans — support raising the minimum age to buy all guns from 18 to 21.

This law wouldn’t have stopped the killer in Allen, Texas on a sunny Saturday afternoon. He is reported to have been 33 years old, well past the required age of 21.

It’s an uphill battle for those who favor gun control. There are probably not enough votes for it to pass in the House. The same is true for the Senate.

House Speaker Dade Phelan said earlier this year that he does not believe HB 2744 has the votes to pass the chamber but that he won’t stand in the way of it being debated. A similar bill in the Senate has not yet received a hearing. And Gov. Greg Abbott has said the law would not be constitutional.

Regardless, Monday’s vote was seen by some as victory.

In 10 years of advocating for gun reform, Nicole Golden, executive director of Texas Gun Sense, called the vote an “unprecedented experience.”

“I’m still crying,” Golden said hours after the vote. “To see that pressure can work, that advocacy still has a voice here is a huge milestone for me. We have been saying from the beginning, even if the bill only goes so far as a vote in this committee, that means a lot.”

Will the bill move forward during this session? That is the question now. It all depends on the calendar. Democrats pledge to get it done.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican was one of three members of a special investigative committee that last summer examined the Uvalde shooting. He voted against its advancement as a member of the select committee. Burrows also chairs the House Calendars Committee, which could determine when or if HB 2744 advances to the full chamber. But the calendars chair does not comment on bills coming to or being considered by the committee.

If the bill stalls under Burrows’ calendars committee, it will miss another deadline approaching this week: All House bills that aren’t given initial approval by the full chamber by Thursday immediately face increasingly difficult odds of becoming law. Though there are some avenues lawmakers could try to resuscitate the proposal.

“We have rules in our rulebook that can bring a bill to life at any time — and damn it, I intend to use them,” Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said at Monday’s press conference.

We’ll see what happens with HB 2744. No doubt the Uvalde families will be there.