“It’s on us.”

May 26, 2022

[No audio version available]

          I listened to the Governor Greg Abbott’s press conference on Wednesday, May 25th. It was a disgrace and an insult to the victims and the families of the schoolchildren killed in Uvalde, Texas. Predictably, Abbott refused to acknowledge the role of assault rifles in mass killings and accepted no responsibility for the state’s failure to protect children while in school. Instead, Abbott blamed:

Pure evil;

Mental illness;

Absence of mental health facilities near Uvalde; and

Failure of schools to “harden” themselves against armed attackers.

          Abbott refused to say whether he would cancel his appearance at the NRA annual meeting in Texas on Friday. He is apparently more fearful of offending potential donors and voters in the NRA than desecrating the memories of the children killed in Uvalde. Coward. Hypocrite.

          Abbott heaped more than the usual amount of praise on the heroics of law enforcement responders—a time-tested way to stop talking about the nearly two-dozen bodies in a nearby morgue. And there was more than the usual amount of arm-waving and fuzziness about the response by law enforcement. Today is not the day for a thorough examination of the response by law enforcement, but that examination must come soon—as in weeks, not months. Something doesn’t add up in the explanations being provided by Abbott.

          Every politician that Abbott crammed onto the stage during the press conference failed the children of Uvalde—including Ted Cruz. Not a single one of them had the decency to admit that they bore some responsibility for the failure to protect the children of Uvalde. It took Beto O’Rourke to confront Abbott. O’Rourke approached the podium from the audience as Abbott was finishing his evasive remarks. O’Rourke said,

          Governor Abbott, I have to say something. The time that you could have stopped this was after Sante Fe High School. The next shooting is right now, and you’ve done nothing. You are offering us nothing. You said this was not predictable, this was totally predictable, and you choose not to do anything. It’s on you.

          Republicans on the stage with Abbott, including Ted Cruz and Lt. Governor Patrick, called O’Rourke a “son of bitch,” and “asshole,” among other things.

          Good for Beto O’Rourke. If he made Abbott and Cruz squirm in the spotlight, that is nothing compared to dropping your child off at school and never seeing him or her again. We must continue to make clear to politicians that there is a high political and social price for supporting guns over the lives of children and teachers.

          Senator Chuck Schumer immediately retreated to the hallmark strategy of the Senate—delay. He said there would be no vote on bills already approved by the House. Why? Because Schumer believes that a bipartisan compromise may be possible, but “that will take time.” We have waited for decades for a sign of bipartisanship from Republicans in Congress on gun control. Schumer is a fool if he believes Republicans will suddenly change their strategy. No, they are temporizing, waiting for the glare of the spotlight to fade and then . . . nothing will happen. Schumer should lead or get out of the way. He has badly, grossly failed to grasp the urgency of the moment. [Update: Schumer later realized the gravity of his error and agreed to bring a vote to the floor, ASAP.]

          Abbott’s press conference was filled with misstatements and evasions, which can be fact-checked later. But his most monstrous lie was that “eighteen-year-olds have been able to buy long guns in Texas for 60 years and these school shootings are a recent phenomenon. I don’t know what has changed except mental health issues.” [That is my paraphrase after listening to the news conference live.]  

          Abbott is lying. The first “mass school shooting” occurred at the University of Texas, Austin, fifty-six years ago, in 1966 when Charles Whitman killed 16 and wounded 49 people on the UT campus. The mass shooting at UT started the modern trend of mass school shootings in America.

          Don’t let Greg Abbott lie to you. Don’t let Ted Cruz lie to you. And Chuck Schumer, please don’t allow the “honorable gentlepersons” in the Senate lie to you. We must act now—with or without them.

[NOTE: I wrote this short newsletter at about Noon, Pacific, on Wednesday, May 25 due to travel. Apologies if I have missed later developments during the day. I may not have reliable internet access during for the next four days but will do my best to continue my usual publication schedule during this difficult time. Please bear with me.]

Concluding Thoughts.

          After my wife and I listened live to Beto O’Rourke’s confrontation with Abbott, she immediately picked up her phone and donated to Beto. That was not intended to be a political act. It was intended to say that someone must speak up for our children and teachers. If Beto has the courage to do so, we should empower him to do so more often—and hopefully from the Texas capital as governor of Texas.

          I disagree with Beto’s statements to Abbott in one regard only. Beto said to Abbott, “It’s on you.” No, it is on us. All of us. Today, let’s all try to emulate Beto’s refusal to accept the status quo and Senate procedure and bipartisanship as excuses for delay. Those factors have delayed us for decades. It is on us to act. Now.

I will be in touch as frequently as possible over the Memorial Day weekend.