Austin, Texas - Lawmakers in the Texas House have taken the first step to raise the age to buy semiautomatic rifles as the state reels from yet another mass shooting.

The Texas House Community Safety Select Committee voted 8-5 to approve HB 2744, with two Republicans joining their Democratic colleagues in favor.

The legislation would raise the minimum age to purchase certain semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.

"Today’s vote is a crucial step in the right direction, but we won’t give up. We will keep holding lawmakers in Texas – and across the nation – accountable until life-saving measures like HB 2744 become law," Moms Demand Action said in a statement on Twitter.

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The news comes as the Lone Star State grapples with the Allen mall shooting, which left eight people dead and seven more injured days after a gunman killed five of his neighbors in Cleveland.

Despite growing public outrage over gun violence, HB 2744 faces an uphill battle in the GOP-controlled state legislature, which has consistently ignored calls for common-sense gun reform and instead sought to loosen restrictions.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott previously spoke out against raising the age, suggesting such measures would be "unconstitutional."

His remarks came after the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, in which an 18-year-old shooter killed 19 children and two adults with a legally purchased AR-15-style rifle.