It's expected that, when Texas lawmakers get back to work in Austin, they'll be debating a flurry of gun control bills, and one disability rights group will likely be playing a big role, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.
The group ADAPT of Texas has sent out a survey to all their members, asking how many of them became disabled because of a firearm.
"Having data will help the advocates for more sensible gun policy because there is currently not a lot of information," Organizer Bob Kafka says.
He says, after a tragedy like the Sutherland Springs church massacre or the Florida school shooting, there's a focus on how many people were killed. And while that's important, he feels like the after-effects of survivors are rarely followed as closely.
"I think the effects are not reported and I hope the information we get can start the debate," he explains.
While Kafka admits that the data set obtained by the survey will be small, he hopes to also collect personal stories of shooting survivors. That, he feels, will be impactful as the state lawmakers get back to work.
Hard data on shootings is hard to obtain, thanks to a congressional ban, halting any research by the center for disease control. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, there number of murders committed in Texas in 2016 was 1,473. That's a 12.1 percent increase in the number of murders when compared to 2015. About three quarters of the murders were committed by the use of firearms.