By SUZANNE DOWNING
Nov. 10, 2026 – Less than a week after Democrats won the Texas governor’s office and control of the Texas state House, lawmakers started filing gun-control proposals for the next legislative session. It’s an early glimpse of what is to come across the country, and that may include the strongly left-leaning Alaska Legislature.
Texas opened bill prefiling season Monday. The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action counted roughly 35 firearm-related bills on the first day and described most as restrictions on gun ownership or transfers.
The proposals arrive after a Democrats captured the Texas governorship and House majority, although Republicans retained the Senate. That leaves a substantial obstacle to passage, even as the filings show what gun-control advocates want lawmakers to consider.
Among the measures already filed:
- Restrictions on younger adults: SB 80, by Democratic Sen. Judith Zaffirini, would prohibit people under 21 from purchasing or possessing firearms covered by its definition of “assault weapon,” with specified defenses, including prior lawful possession. Its definition includes many semiautomatic centerfire rifles with detachable magazines and features such as a pistol grip or folding stock. It also restricts transfers to that age group. The proposed effective date is Sept. 1, 2027.
- Red-flag orders: HB 218, by Rep. Johnson, would establish extreme risk protective orders, including their issuance and enforcement, and create criminal offenses.
- Private-transfer background checks: HB 613, by Rep. Suleman Lalani, would require a national instant criminal background check in connection with private firearm transfers and create a criminal offense.
Other measures identified by NRA-ILA address firearm storage, reporting requirements for multiple purchases, local authority to regulate firearms, and additional restrictions affecting adults ages 18 through 20.
Texas lawmakers convene Jan. 12, 2027, and Republicans’ continued Senate majority means Democratic gains elsewhere do not guarantee passage.
For Alaska gun owners, however, the Texas filings raise a question about what could follow November’s elections in Juneau.
Alaska’s election, due to ranked-choice voting’s drawn-out schedule, remains unfinished. Outstanding ballots and ranked-choice tabulations could still affect legislative races. But preliminary results clearly point toward an expanded Democratic and fake independent presence in the House and continued Democrat-dominated control of the Senate. Both chambers were already governed by coalitions that included Republicans, Democrats and the fake independents; the emerging shift would strengthen the left side of that existing arrangement.
Incoming Senate President Cathy Giessel is Republican but has explicitly supported gun control, including:
- Red flag laws: Restrictions on firearm purchase/ownership for people with mental health illness, allowing temporary removal when grounds exist (she referenced a prior bill, HB 75, that should be reconsidered).
- Universal background checks, which she called “a basic requirement.”
- Regulation of “ghost guns.”
- Restricting purchase of AR-15s or military-style rifles to people aged 25 and above (with an exception for 18-year-olds in military service).
The advocacy network is already present. Everytown’s event listings identify a Juneau local Moms Demand Action group within its Alaska chapter, including a meeting organized to write postcards supporting candidates the organization favors. Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network.
Its Alaska affiliates have previously pushed for the same general legislation now appearing in Texas.
In February 2024, Alaska Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action welcomed SB 229, a proposal allowing courts to temporarily restrict firearm access when evidence showed a person posed a “serious risk.” The proposal allowed petitions from law enforcement and specified family or household members.
That Alaska effort shows that red-flag legislation would be a renewed push here, with Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, the likely Democrat to win the governorship, also considered in favor of gun-control. In past years, he was rated 42% by the NRA on candidate positions in multiple recent cycles (including 2018/2020.)
Alaskans will have to wait longer to see the next session’s public bill list. Unlike Texas’s November filings, Alaska’s first two prefile releases are scheduled for Jan. 8 and Jan. 15, ahead of the Legislature’s Jan. 19 opening. But because certification of the election does not occur until Nov. 25, the bill-filing season is still two weeks away.
