Officials and family members were still trying to identify victims of Tuesday’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school when Republicans in the state began offering their usual platitudes and empty prayers. They also made it clear they won’t support any — and I mean, any — impactful gun safety measures to prevent the next one.
At least 19 students and two teachers were killed in Tuesday’s shooting in Uvalde, a small city about 85 miles west of San Antonio. The massacre came just days after a shooting rampage in Buffalo, New York, left 10 dead.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said the shooter, an 18-year-old high school student, shot and killed students and teachers “incomprehensibly.”
But he was wrong. Mass shootings have become commonplace in the United States, thanks in large part to the conservative bloodlust and greed that feeds our country’s sick infatuation with guns. Abbott, in fact, embodies that infatuation, as evidenced by a 2015 tweet that resurfaced after yesterday’s shooting.
I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans. @NRA https://t.co/Ry2GInbS1g
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 28, 2015
During a Wednesday press conference, Beto O’Rourke, the state’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, confronted Abbott for his complicity in gun violence.
"This is on you until you choose to do something": Beto O'Rourke confronts Gov. Abbott at briefing on Texas elementary school shooting. https://t.co/RdYLvfum24 pic.twitter.com/bqbQXTPm6O
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 25, 2022
Abbott is scheduled to speak at a National Rifle Association Convention on Friday along with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, seen throwing a tantrum in the video above.
Responding to the shooting on Twitter, Cruz offered a version of the canned “thoughts and prayers” response Republicans tend to deploy after shootings to avoid actually doing anything substantive.
Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 24, 2022
We are in close contact with local officials, but the precise details are still unfolding.
Thank you to heroic law enforcement & first responders for acting so swiftly.
That wasn’t surprising. Like Abbott, Cruz acts like a shill for the gun lobby, which he’s demonstrated through his repeated efforts to block gun safety measures. And speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon, Cruz made it clear we shouldn’t expect the most recent mass shooting in his state to move him in any way.
“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,” Cruz said. “That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime.”








