Crocodile tears

To the Editor: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was on TV shedding crocodile tears about the school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers when his lax gun laws in Texas caused this to happen. He has those innocents' blood on his hands.

Texas is an “open carry” state, where a teenager can buy an assault rifle and protective gear; shoot his grandmother in the face, and then drive to the school to unleash terror and death on a whole community.

Abbott calls himself a pro-life governor who will stop women from getting an abortion, even after rape and incest, but he doesn't care about living children in his state.

I was proud of Beto O'rourke when he confronted Abbott at the press conference. We do have free speech in our land, yet all the men on the stage started to yell obscenities and he was escorted out of the room.

The lieutenant governor of Texas said, “We are better than this.” But, how can we be better when red-flag laws, background checks, or a ban on assault weapons is ignored? Now is the time to stop the next mass shooting. Ted Cruz said, “This is not the time to talk about this.” When will it be time?

Abbott also said that 18-year-olds have been allowed to buy a long gun in Texas for the past 60 years. “What has changed?” he asked. It's military assault weapons that are killing many people in a few minutes, not hunting rifles. What hypocrisy, from a man who recently stated he was upset because Californians own more guns than Texans. At least we don't have open carry in our state.

I'm a parent and a teacher, and I want to honor the two beautiful, brave teachers who lost their lives while trying to protect their students.

Sydney Taylor

Sonora