AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A pro-gun rally coincides with a debate on legislation about how to make schools safer, nine months after the second-deadliest mass School shooting in the nation’s history took place in the small Texas town of Uvalde.

At least hundreds of people are expected to gather outside the State Capitol on Tuesday, calling for tighter restrictions on how Texans can buy firearms.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Public Education is holding hearings to discuss a myriad of issues facing Texas public schools, from teacher turnover to strengthening schools to improve campus Safety.

The Legislative Panel called Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, Chief of School Safety John Scott, and Director of the Texas School Safety Center Dr. Cathy Martinez-Prater to testify.

During a talk about school safety, Martinez-Prater noted that the problems causing school shootings are complex and therefore solutions will not be black and white.

“We really need to focus on everything from how we prevent to how we recover when these tragedies actually happen,” she said. “It’s physical safety, mental health, and everything we do for prevention.”

Rep. Matt Schaeffer, R-Tyler, said the conversation about prevention can’t ignore the fact that most perpetrators of school gun violence are young people.

“We have a profile, it’s all men,” he said. “If we’re going to talk about school shootings, we need to talk about men.”

This is an evolving story, stay tuned. Nexstar Capitol correspondent Ryan Chandler will provide a full report on KXAN this evening.