• The sister of a Uvalde school shooting victim begged Texas lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws. 
  • "The people that were supposed to keep her safe at school didn't, they failed," Jazmin Cazares said Thursday.
  • Her sister was one of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting last month. 

The sister of a girl killed in the Uvalde school shooting begged Texas lawmakers for stricter gun laws. 

Jazmin Cazares on Thursday visited the Texas Capitol to ask the legislature to enact stricter gun laws and to press officials about why the people in charge of saving her sister failed, The Associated Press reported. 

"I shouldn't have to be here right now. I should be at home watching a movie with my sister," she said through tears, The AP reported.

She continued: "I'm here begging for you guys to do something or to change something, because the people that were supposed to keep her safe at school didn't, they failed."

 

Her little sister, Jacklyn, was one of the 19 students killed when an 18-year-old gunman opened fire on two fourth-grade classrooms at Robb Elementary School in May. Two teachers also died in the carnage. 

Cazares, now 17, explained to lawmakers how she has been doing lockdown drills since pre-K and wondered why schools aren't safer for children.

"It's terrifying, not knowing if it's true or not every single time we go into lockdown. And then having to go back to school next year?" she said, per The AP. "Going to school shouldn't have to be a decision. But it is. I have my senior year, that's it. Am I going to survive it?"

She added that lawmakers should adopt background checks when people want to buy guns and "red flag laws," which would take guns away from those at risk of harming themselves or others, The AP reported. 

Cazares's testimony to Texas lawmakers came hours before the U.S. Senate passed a new bipartisan gun bill that would enforce the strictest gun laws in the country since the 1990s. 

"We are passing the first significant gun safety bill in nearly 30 years," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday ahead of the vote, adding that the bill is "not a cure-all for all the ways gun violence affects our nation, but it is a long-overdue step in the right direction."

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Read the original article on Insider