Uvalde responsibility
Regarding “Officials sought to spin tragedy,” (July 17): The last paragraph on page A6 of Sunday’s story explains the response we saw in Uvalde. “Absent the shields, every UPD officer was of the opinion that breaching the door was suicide and every Texas Ranger or DPS agent who took their statements agreed. Not a single officer present, including DPS troopers and Texas Rangers, believe they could save lives by approaching that door and being killed one by one.”
Expecting a police officer to be an action hero as depicted on movie screens everywhere is misguided. Since World War I, only about 1,200 recipients have been awarded the Medal of Honor, around 20,000 have received the Distinguished Service Cross or Distinguished Flying Cross, and about 130,000 the Silver Star. That is a total estimate of around 150,000 recognized acts of valor out of a total of nearly 40 million military members who served since that time. That is, only about four-tenths of 1 percent were “heroes” of the kind needed to engage the shooter at the three-minute mark in Uvalde. Expecting that any random police force in a local community has one of those on the scene is wishful thinking and does not help in crafting mitigation for the next mass shooter. “Designated Hero” is not a job description.
Walt Lind, Nassau Bay
Regarding “Acting police chief placed on leave after report shows ‘lackadaisical’ response to Uvalde massacre,” (July 17): What could have prevented the slaughter of all those innocent children in Uvalde? Not letting an 18-yearold, or anyone else for that matter, purchase and openly carry a military style assault weapon, along with all the ammunition he could carry, and load into it as many high-capacity magazines as he could afford with his birthday money. Thanks to Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, John Cornyn, Ted Cruz and all the other passengers in the NRA legislative clown car being driven by Wayne LaPierre, it was all perfectly legal. To quote these nitwits: Guns don’t kill innocent children — clowns do.
David Homan, Willis
Almost 400 law enforcement agents stood around for 77 minutes while children died. I get it. It is unforgivable. Heads should roll.
Texas has had multiple mass shootings since 2017: El Paso, Midland-Odessa, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe, Uvalde.
Abbott and the Texas Legislature have been standing around throughout all of these events and done nothing except loosen gun laws.
Who is responsible here? Heads should roll.
Charlene Shafer, Cypress
I have read the Chronicle and watched Sunday television concerning the shooting at Uvalde. The point of all of our analysis and reporting seems to be how complicated this situation was. It is complicated to explain, it was complicated on-site because of local conditions and it is complicated to plan how to keep it from happening again. I can’t believe that we will not consider the obvious. This mass shooting of children would not have happened if the perpetrator did not have a gun. If we take away guns, then few will be able to shoot our children in the future. There is no solution that would be more effective.
Norman Bunch, Houston
That it was a tragedy is certain. That the authorities’ actions were not the best is also certain. No one involved in the response did anything that is against the laws of Texas, of Uvalde or the federal government. No doubt the lawsuits are being prepared with anyone and everyone likely to be included. It is time to shut down the press-feeding frenzy and circus that has gone on long enough. Let Uvalde residents mourn, then get on with their lives the best that they can.
David Morrison, Conroe