A piece of shit with a gun murdered 19 children and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Whenever there’s a mass shooting, no matter how horrific, Republicans immediately suggest more guns as a solution. This makes about as much sense as a drunk driver wrapping his car around a tree, killing everyone inside, and declaring, “God, I need a drink.” However, Republicans are openly in bed with the gun lobby, whose sole purpose is to sell more guns. Mass shootings are good business for the death machine industry.
CNN reported after last year’s back-to-back mass shootings:
“When you hear more calls for firearm restrictions, we have observed gun sale increases primarily from people buying before they’re not able to,” said Rob Southwick, founder of the market research firm Southwick Associates.
No serious gun legislation has passed in decades — quite the opposite in fact. Texas, where the latest massacre took place, has loosened its gun restrictions over the past few years. Republicans promoted and passed laws that let citizens carry guns without a permit.
Senator Ted Cruz from Texas obviously opposes any meaningful gun safety measures. His primary job it seems is defending guns. He whined to MSNBC:
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. That doesn’t work.
The gunman, who turned 18 on May 16, purchased two rifles for his execution-style hits but could not have legally bought beer or marijuana. That’s absurd and sick.
Cruz added, “We know from past experience that the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus.” Cops don’t make schools safer. They beat up Black kids. There was an armed sheriff’s deputy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. He never went inside the school or engaged the gunman. The teenage white supremacist who murdered Black people in Buffalo, New York, wore body armor, which is less regulated than guns. (The Uvalde gunman was not wearing body armor.) He killed the armed security guard.
Allen West, like NRA shill Dana Loesch, complained that schools are less secure than concert venues and museums. One person was killed and 11 injured during a shooting at an outdoor concert in Dallas just last month. Their pro-gun talking points aren’t even credible.
Texas Attorney General and Trump coup plotter Ken Paxton, referencing a past regularly scheduled mass shooting in El Paso, suggested we turn schools into fortresses, with a single point of entry (no one start a fire!). Subjecting children to prison-like conditions is just the price they have to pay so functioning adults can hump their guns in peace.
He did recognize some of the drawbacks behind arming any random asshole, but his solution was ridiculous.
PAXTON: Having teachers and potentially more administrators who have gone through training and are armed. First responders typically can’t get there in time to prevent a shooting. It’s just not possible unless you have a police on every campus, which for a lot of these schools is almost impossible.
No reasonable person thinks we should put more guns in our schools, but Republicans are rarely reasonable. Now, they’re recommending we arm to the teeth the very teachers they spent the past year calling groomers and pedophiles.
I can’t believe I have to say this, but teaching and law enforcement are very different professions. Not all cops are good at math or American history, and not every teacher is mentally or physically capable of holding off a deranged gunman while protecting a classroom full of terrified children. This is not a serious idea. It’s actually less insulting to our intelligence if Republicans said we should have magic leprechauns guarding our schools.
Republicans eagerly pass laws banning abortion, which was once a constitutional right, but won’t dare come after guns. Known idiot Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “We don’t need more gun control. We need to return to God.” Everyone should get all heavenly while stockpiling assault rifles so they can murder anyone who looks at them the wrong way.
This is the America Republicans have wrought, and as Nietzsche might say, “What was once sick has now become indecent. It is indecent to be a Republican today.”
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