Nevaeh Bravo
Jackie Cazares, 10
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
Jose Flores, 10
Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, 9
Irma Garcia
Uziyah Garcia, 10
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Jayce Luevanos, 10
Tess Marie Mata
Miranda Mathis, 11
Eva Mireles, 44
Alithia Ramirez, 10
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Maite Rodriguez
Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10
Layla Salazar, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Eliahana Cruz Torres, 10
Rojelio Torres, 10
Chief Writing Wolf 
There is no way to make sense of this tragedy. It is so heartbreaking.
No, there’s not. I almost don’t know what to say, as these types of events continue. So far this year, in the U.S., we’ve had more than 100 mass shootings, which is a single event when at least 4 people are shot. We’re the only nation in the world where this is a problem. We may be the wealthiest and one of the freest, but we’re certainly not the safest. While I’m not the paranoid type, every time I go out somewhere I’m wary of encountering one of these situations.
The primary problem is with conservative politicians who feel that gun ownership is more important than human lives. They call themselves pro-life, but they maintain the idiotic belief that more guns and more people trained in firearm usage and safety is the answer.
It does seem quite distorted to think more weapons will solve the problem of violence with weapons. It speaks of a grave fear and a desire for superior control using the defences of fire-power and for some it seems ingrained in their psyche as if they. have tunnel vision. The more insecurity and freely available firearms, the more it seems to happen. But for heavens sake, why little schoolchildren? That is really sick.
In 2019 Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill that removed the long-standing requirement that people have a license to purchase a firearm. Then, in August of that year, a young man drove from a town just north of where I live to El Paso, Texas, which is on the far western edge of the state specifically to shoot people of Hispanic extraction in a store. He killed 23 people. Understand he drove some 634 miles (roughly 1,020 km) to murder people he thought were illegal immigrants from México!
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/us/el-paso-shooting-friday/index.html
Last year Abbott signed another bill into law that lowered the legal age someone could purchase a firearm in Texas from 21 to 18. On his 18th birthday earlier this month, the Uvalde gunman bought 2 high-powered rifles, along with a large cache of ammunition and other paraphernalia. I think he visited different gun stores.
Now, as more details of the Uvalde massacre come to light, the gravity of the events are brutally clear. Several police had arrived on scene, but didn’t enter because they believed it was a barricaded gunman situation. Some of the children trapped inside the school repeatedly called local emergency pleading for help. One little girl in the middle of the chaos smeared blood from one victim onto her face and dropped to the floor, so the gunman would think she was dead!
https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmyvb/texas-cop-waited-backup-911-kids-inside?utm_source=email&utm_medium=editorial&utm_content=news&utm_campaign=220527
No, more guns won’t solve this problem. But, for some reason, ardent gun rights supporters adhere to that myth. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz even proposed an idiotic solution to prevent future massacres: have only a single entry and exit point for school buildings – which could create a fire hazard. But that seems to be the conservative mindset: simple solutions for even the most complex of problems.
You describe Knee jerk reactions to a systemic disease. The belief that firearms make you safe and give you power over another being. But why remove restrictions in 2019 and lower the age? Its all about face to the direction they should move to.
I realize the actions taken by the Texas State Legislature in 2019 and 2021 are “knee jerk” in substance! Smart people like you and me, Amanda, fully comprehend that. So do a number of other people here in Texas (and other states). One problem is that so many people here don’t vote; another is that conservatives in the Texas Legislature have rigged the system to hamper voting efforts – gerrymandering. It seems the typical right-wing mindset (in the U.S. at least) is to limit voting rights and loosen gun regulations.
A number of Republican politicians have stated in the past, for example, that people who have criminal records should not have their voting rights restored; that it’s the cost of their bad behavior. Yet they turn around and say these same people should have their right to own firearms restored because they’ve served their time in the criminal justice system and deserve a second chance. Now, does that make sense? But, again, that’s the typical conservative mindset, as I see it: guns are more important than voting.
I’ve always said real freedom begins with the right to vote and the right to free speech. If someone thinks their freedom begins with the barrel of a shotgun, then they’re too stupid to be trusted and should never have any authority.
You know, Amanda, if the world would only listen to level-headed folks like us, the world would be a happier, safer place.
I often try to understand this “wild” mindset but fail as I think they lack some kind of empathy and altruism and they are so frightened they can not and do not listen.
Their argument doesn’t make sense because it isn’t logical. It is easy for us to comment at a distance, but folks with more long-sighted visions and who are not so scared of losing power would make far better politicians. I think I have told you about being abused during one of my first ebay transactions, because somehow the sale of a book descended into a slanging match with a pro-gun Georgian, who accused me of wanting her to be raped in her own home because I said that I felt sorry for her if she had to live in a neighbourhood where she felt the need to have a gun, in her house for protection, was so essential. I could not believe the visceral, explosive response. From that, I could see what the country is up against. This fear, this panic about an amendment that is historically outdated.