Cornyn to lead gun law talks in Senate: 'I'm not interested in making a political statement'

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has been chosen to take the lead on the U.S. Senate's discussion on gun legislation, according to The Associated Press (AP), Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported.

Late last month, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School and killed 21 people, including 19 students. Law enforcement officials fatally shot the shooter.

The AP reported that Cornyn had just barely arrived in Washington, D.C., from assessing the situation in the South Texas city of 16,000 some 84 miles west of San Antonio, when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) tabbed him to lead the Republicans in negotiations with leaders on the other side of the aisle on gun legislation in the upper chamber.

“I'm not interested in making a political statement,” the senior senator said, according to the report. “I'm actually interested in what we can do to make the terrible events that occurred in Uvalde less likely in the future.”

Cornyn held a virtual meeting on Tuesday (May 31) with a bipartisan group of senators to lay a groundwork for a deal on firearm related measures, per a report from San Antonio CBS affiliate KENS that was ran by sister station KVUE, Houston Daily reported.

Cornyn said the meeting with Democrat Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and partymate Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) was "very constructive."

"We’ve asked our staff to continue to work together to address some of the details that we hope to be able to discuss at some point soon," the senator said, per KENS.

Meanwhile in Uvalde, a grief-stricken community has begun the painful process of saying goodbye to the victims.

San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported that Friday (June 3) is the fourth day in a row funeral services are held.

The families of Robb students Jacklyn “Jackie” Cazares, Jaliah Nicole Silguero and Jayce Carmelo Luevanos will hold funerals for the children at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, with interments to take place at Hillcrest Cemetery.