In the wake of Tuesday morning’s massacre of at least 19 fourth-grade children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school, lawmakers and top government officials are sharing their thoughts and prayers, but what are they saying when confronted with the question of what can be done to stop the horrible affliction of violence in our society that threatens the lives of the most vulnerable, our children?
After the shooting, several top Texas Republican lawmakers expressed their shock and sympathy, but refused to support gun control laws that would help lessen the availability of firearms. Instead, these lawmakers are saying that teachers should be armed in the classroom and schools should have more armed security. They want more firearms available to the public.
Senator Ted Cruz took an opportunity to blame Democrats for politicizing the shooting, after President Joe Biden implored the nation to do something about gun control. Cruz said, “Inevitably when there’s a murder 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.”
Biden addressed the country after the incident, “We as a nation have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? When in God’s name do we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”
Cruz said that taking guns away doesn’t work. It doesn’t prevent crime. He said the best way to keep children and schools safe is to have more law enforcement security at the school.
After the news broke out about the shooting, allegedly perpetrated by an 18-year-old male who had just shot his grandmother, and then crashed his car through the barricade at Robb Elementary School and shot at police officers, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he would support more school security, including armed teachers, instead of trying to reform the gun control laws. Paxton just won the GOP primary to keep his position as Attorney General.
“We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things,” Paxton said on Fox News. “We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly. That, in my opinion, is the best answer.”
Lt. Gov. of Texas, Dan Patrick, a Republican, agreed with Senator Cruz that schools should have more armed security. He accused President Biden of “desecrating the memory” of the victims of the shooting in Texas.
In “gun-friendly” Texas, lawmakers have made acquiring firearms even easier. Residents are allowed to carry a gun without a permit.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, accused Republicans of caring more about the NRA than children’s lives. He pointed out that the House of Representatives has passed background check bills, but there is not enough Republican support to pass them in the Senate.
The battle for gun control laws will continue, as will the suffering of victims and families all over the nation.
Have we learned anything since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, where 20 first graders and six school staff were shot?
The father of Jesse Lewis, a 6-year-old who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting, said, “I guess it’s something in society we know will happen again, over and over.”
