Gun violence: Another Texas slaughter
Gun massacres “can happen in any state,” but it’s no mystery why they’ve become so horrifyingly commonplace in Texas, said Zachary B. Wolf in CNN .com. The latest massacre occurred last week when Mauricio Garcia, a 33-yearold neo-Nazi who praised Adolf Hitler and mass shooters, used an assault rifle to declare war on shoppers at a suburban Dallas outlet mall. Wearing a tactical vest and an “RWDS” insignia— meaning “Right Wing Death Squad”—he shot 15 people, eight of them fatally, including three children, before a police officer shot and killed him. A citizen who rushed to help the victims found a little girl with “no face.” Texas’ gun laws are among the most permissive of any state’s. Not surprisingly, Texas had more mass shootings than any other state last year, and has had more than a dozen so far in 2023, including one just a week earlier. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott once again insisted “the root cause” of so many mass shootings is “the mental health issue,” not guns.
“Another week, another shooting,” said Jamelle Bouie in The New York Times. Yet no matter how many children and adults are slaughtered, the Right insists “the debate over gun control is over.” With 400 million guns in America, Republicans say, we should focus on helping mentally ill people before they become mass shooters. That’s rich, given that Abbott cut more than $200 million from his state’s mental health agency last year. The other nonsensical solution gun lovers offer is the “fortification of soft targets.” That means turning schools, churches and synagogues, malls, supermarkets, and virtually every public place into garrisons complete with metal detectors, reinforced doors, and armed guards. Is that “freedom”? Every time Abbott is forced to comment on the latest mass shooting in his state, said Michael Tomasky in The New Republic, you have to wonder: What goes on “in the mind and conscience of a man who presides over such carnage and does nothing?”
Our newspaper endorsed Abbott for re-election last year, said The Dallas Morning News in an editorial. But “there is nothing conservative” about ignoring the terrible consequences of allowing virtually anyone to buy a rapid-fire, highcapacity assault rifle. Texans “have had enough” of living in constant fear. Abbott and the state legislature “must summon the will to act.”