Within the last 10 days, two 18-year-old madmen have killed 12 adults and 19 children with assault rifles.
Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican, urged “all Texans to come together.” But do something about guns? No. (Yahoo News story here.)
Instead of being up in arms over the massacre, Republicans directing their anger at the Democrats speaking out against the madness of arming madmen with military-grade weapons (see, e.g., the video below).
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) warned Democrats against a “reflexive reaction” and said we need more “situational awareness.” Do something about guns? Tillis said “no.”(CNN story here.)
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) had nothing to say except, “Our thoughts and prayers are with these families.” (MSN story here.)
Other Republicans in Congress were more expansive; they blamed today’s Texas school massacre on “decades of rejecting good moral values” and called “for a return for God as opposed to tighter gun control laws.” Some Republicans were even more specific; Jackson Lahmeyer, a GOP Senate candidate in Oklahoma, called for arming teachers, while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called suggested “meds” for “mental health.” (She could use some herself.) (Newsweek story here.)
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said, “Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.” (Huffington Post story here.) But limit access to guns? Nope. Instead Cruz said, “Inevitably when there’s a murderer of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime.”
He added, “We know what does prevent crime which is going after felons and fugitives and those with serious mental illness arresting them prosecuting them when they try to illegally buy firearms.” (A different Huffington Post story here.)
Yeah? Well if that “works,” then why are these shootings still happening? So far this year, 2022, and it’s only May 24th, there have been “27 school shootings with injuries or deaths.” (NPR story here.) As of 9 days ago, May 15th, there had been 198 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. (A different NPR story here; for list, go here.)
Rep. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, probably spoke for a lot of people when he responded, “Fuck you. Fuck your prayers. They haven’t worked for the last 20 mass killings.” (MSN story linked above.) He easily could’ve said the last 200 or more.
I don’t know what the solution for this is, or if there is one, but I’m pretty sure voting for Republicans doesn’t help.
Related stories: Read about gun bills stalled in Congress here; read about “red flag” bill’s prospects in U.S. Senate here; read about this weekend’s NRA convention in Texas here (yes, they’re going ahead with it).