Uvalde

Pardon the Interruption

A few years ago, Parkland happened. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, was pressured to get on camera and address the issue, but not the Parkland one. A few weeks later, a shooting happened in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people -- eight students and two teachers -- were fatally shot, and thirteen were wounded. 

The Governor held a presser stating he was creating a Taskforce of key individuals -- many were hand picked based on previous support and status within the community. Their goal was to present to the Governor and the Texas Legislature recommendations.

Those recommendations were talking points that surfaced at the presser or soon after to keep students and teachers safe at school: school hardening, school resource officers (SROs), mental health, threat assessment, and fusion centers, to name a few.

Republican Texas Senator Larry Taylor authored the bill and carried it through the legislative process. It was a big victory that held a lot of promise. I for one thought so too.

Side note: the Texas Legislature is unique in that they only meet every other 2 years for 140 days to write and pass legislation.

The following legislative session, 2021, an odd one for many reasons. One being the COVID-19 restricted participation in committee hearings. The second being it provided a great opportunity for the Texas conservative leadership to pass bills without scrutiny. 

One bill passed allow people to open carry a firearm without a permit. Another law prohibited government offices from preventing individuals from carrying a firearm. 

A day after the Uvalde event, Governor Greg Abbott was joined with other conservative state leaders for what was a repeat of that presser he gave in 2018 after Santa Fe. He said the same thing. The only thing that was different was unexpected appearance of Abbott's challenger, Beto O'Rourke.  

As a Texan, I respect the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Even if it means ignoring "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State." Because, let's be honest, if you can't make sense of the sentence structure then you were a bad student or had horrible teachers.

Back to my point, I respect the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, as a Texan. However, we must put into perspective what a DDM4 Version 7 can do to a close up target. This is the same AR-style used by the gunman at yesterday's Uvalde Massacre. The damage was so incredibly bad that parents were asked to provide DNA swab samples to help identify victims.

Watch the video below what a DDM4 Version 7 can do. It's a powerful weapon, indeed. But then question yourself why it's okay for an 18 year old to purchase this gun without proper background check.

We saw how politicians respond when confronted by a citizen, a voter, a parent. They coward and deflect and respond with the same rhetoric. So, if we want change, we need to be loud at press conferences, hearings, and meetings and question our politicians.