21 lives lost.
What happened in Uvalde, Texas, how is the public reacting, and what comes next in the push for more gun regulations.
Happy Tuesday, and welcome to the fifteenth edition of Waco Can’t Wait, a progressive newsletter focusing on McLennan County, Texas, and Federal politics.
While I trust that many of you had plans for Memorial Day, it is disheartening to think about the broken families who could not make it out this weekend. Many of us were enjoying time with our friends and loved ones while others were making funeral arrangements. As we privately or publicly shared our condolences, opinions, or discontent with public officials, those who were close to the victims continued to sit in a state of devastation and loss.
I cannot begin to conceptualize what it would be like to lose your child or your spouse in an instant. What I can understand is that this was not unprecedented or unimaginable, and it will not be the last time. We live in a country where “enough is enough” means nothing and “never again” rings hollow. Our state leaders can read their prepared remarks from an 8.5 x 12 in. piece of paper, declare that this is a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened, and then do absolutely nothing about it.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Greg Abbott has sat through six of these press conferences since he took office in 2015. Each one of these tragedies was marked by Republicans calling for hardening our schools, increasing the presence of armed security officers, or providing thicker bullet-proof vests for officers, but they would never consider going after the instrumentalities of these crimes.
What Happened
On Tuesday, a gunman shot and killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. This mass shooting was committed after the gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, had shot his grandmother and crashed his pickup truck outside of the school. The first report of Ramos being inside of the school came around 11:30 am.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), Ramos walked into the building without confrontation from any law enforcement. While Ramos could be heard inside firing his weapon, parents gathered outside of the school to urge the police to go inside and stop him. While students inside of the classroom called the police multiple times, we now know that there were as many as 19 officers waiting in the school’s hallway while the gunman continued to kill students.
Ramos was in the school for over an hour before a Border Patrol tactical unit arrived to kill him, but he had “shot most of the victims inside [the] two adjoining classrooms within minutes after he arrived.” According to law enforcement, Ramos was killed around 1:00 pm.
Reactions From The Community
Needless to say that this community is devastated. While support is pouring in from around the country and people are flocking to this small community to pay their respects, many are still asking how something like this could have happened. It is too soon to know how this town will recover, especially the children who witnessed these murders first hand.
Response From Law Enforcement
Many families have been quick to criticize local law enforcement’s response to this tragedy. When parents of students heard that there was a shooter in the school, many rushed to the campus to try to save their children. When they arrived, they begged and pleaded with officers at the school to go in and save their babies.
One mother was briefly put in handcuffs after urging the officers to go inside. Once released, she jumped the school fence, ran inside to grab her kids, and sprinted outside with them.
There have been multiple conflicting accounts of what happened according to Texas law enforcement. On May 25th, law enforcement claimed that they immediately engaged the shooter and that they had him pinned down in the one classroom. The next day, they said that the shooter was not stopped by the first officer that encountered him, and that he had locked himself in the classroom.
DPS has more recently come to the conclusion that law enforcement messed up big time. While it is granted that Ramos killed most of his victims towards the beginning of his siege, it is clear now that he was not barricaded in the classroom and that law enforcement could have entered the room much sooner than they did. The Department of Justice has announced that they will be investigating the response from law enforcement.
Reactions From The Public
This time definitely feels different. With multiple back-to-back mass shootings in recent weeks, public opinion has shifted strongly in favor of increased restrictions on guns. Senator Chris Murphy, Democratic Senator from Connecticut, is spearheading talks with a bipartisan group of senators that includes Texas Senator John Cornyn. While we have been burned by these talks before, Murphy claims that there is genuine interest among lawmakers to do something this time around. We shall see.
In response to the National Rifle Association’s convention in Houston, gun-safety advocates gathered outside of the convention to show their opposition to the association’s presence. The crowd outside far exceeded those in attendance on the inside. In the coming weeks, I hope to see more demonstrations like this across the country.
In the interest of time, here is a collection of pieces that add some more depth to the discussions around mass shootings and gun violence:
Greg Abbott Is Full Of Shit by Gus Bova (Texas Observer)
How To Reduce Shootings by Nicholas Kristof (New York Times - 2017)
“It Will Happen Again”: Texas Leaders Have No Plans to Prevent the Next Uvalde by Forrest Wilder (Texas Monthly)
A Common Trait Among Mass Killers: Hatred Toward Women by Julie Bosman, Kate Taylor and Tim Arango (New York Times - 2019)
Australia confiscated 650,000 guns. Murders and suicides plummeted. by Zack Beauchamp (Vox)
Reactions from Politicians
Yes, I am going to talk about the press conference.
While Greg Abbott was delivering his carefully prepared remarks, surrounded by other statewide leaders and local officials, Beto confronted Abbott at the front of the stage. Beto said “You are doing nothing, you are offering up nothing. You said this was not predictable. This was totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”
I don’t have a single problem with what Beto did. People are looking for a leader that is ready to fight for them and show some moral outrage. Like I said before, this is the sixth mass shooting while Abbott has been in office. During that time, he has only made things worse by passing open carry, campus carry, and permitless carry. Abbott even signed a law making Texas a “Second Amendment Sanctuary State”. People are looking for leadership, and Beto showed that he is willing to speak up.
During the press conference, Abbott tried to highlight the need for more mental health funding in Texas. BUT WAIT! Abbott actually slashed $211 million from the Texas Department of Health and Human Services in April of this year. This is the agency that oversees state administered mental health services. “Texas [is currently] ranked last out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for overall access to mental health care.”
Ted Cruz also missed the mark when interviewed by British journalist Mark Stone.1 When asked whether it was time to reform gun laws, United States Senator Ted Cruz responded that it is “easy to go to politics,” and that proposals from Democrats would not have stopped this tragedy.
Stone went on to ask why this only happens in America, and Cruz asserted that Stone needed to “stop being a propagandist.”
Democrats and some Republican lawmakers2 in Texas are now calling for a special legislative session to pass new gun safety laws. Though Abbott has shown some interest in calling the session, he has made it clear he is not interested in making changes to gun laws.
President Biden made his way to Texas this past Sunday to show his solidarity for the victims, their families, and the community at large. As Biden was leaving one of the buildings, people in the crowd pleaded for him to do something about gun violence. He responded, “We will.”
Ways That We Can Help
First and foremost, we need to be doing what we can to lift up this community. Uvalde residents are planning funeral services for their babies, missing work to process the loss they’ve collectively suffered, and planning how their small community will try to recover. The least we can do is help out these individual families, the elementary school, and the community at large:
Next, we need to mobilize the common-sense majority to go out into our communities and demonstrate our strength. March For Our Lives is hosting marches around the country on June 11th, and there will be multiple demonstrations throughout Texas.
Finally, we need to get political. This includes supporting state, local and federal candidates that are in favor of regulating firearms. No more excuses. Public opinion has never been this strongly in favor of regulating guns, and we have to create consequences for elected officials.
My Final Reflections
Our state is currently at the mercy of abortion bounty hunters, domestic terrorists, and flat-Earth conservatives, and Greg Abbott’s Republican Party is at the front of the procession. This party has completely surrendered its shame and policy making authority to a small minority of radical ideologues that do not represent our state, and our children are paying the price.
Make no mistake. These law makers are not concerned about the safety of our children.3 While conservatives have been very vocal over the past year about saving our kids from CRT or stopping “woke” parents from changing their child’s gender, our kids are only tools in their endeavor to inflict pain upon their enemies. It was never about the kids.4
It is even more pathetic how predictable they are at this point, exemplified by this brilliant tweet:
To folks who vote Republican, I am not asking you to change your heart or your mind. I am inviting you to understand the way our elected officials see you. They do not care about you, and they think you’re too dumb to notice. By all accounts, the City of Uvalde and the surrounding county is conservative. Abbott narrowly won the city in 2018 and won the whole county by 20 points. You would assume that he would depart from his usual cruelty towards Democrats and city dwellers to help out his people, right?
Wrong. Abbott will continue to take softball questions from reporters, feign outrage or heartbreak over the lives lost, and then he will go home and forget about all of it. He can do this because he believes you will not hold him accountable. He is certain that his cruelty towards others and his campaign war chest will be enough to get him reelected.
In a democracy, enough is only enough when a critical mass decides that it is so. While Texas may never be the progressive paradise that I would like it to be, at least we can be the state that holds our elected officials accountable when they fail to act. Whether you are a progressive, conservative, or independent, you deserve authentic representation. I hope that enough Texans will figure that out come November. We deserve so much better.
This video is a master class in how journalists need to question politicians. I do not know what it is about British journalists and there ability to press politicians, but American journalists need to take notes.
In 2020 (so far), more children have been shot dead than police in the line of duty.
“A Year of ‘Protecting Children’ in Texas” by Christoper Hooks (Texas Monthly)