The world is once again heartbroken from the killing of 19 elementary students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. An 18 year old loner from a home with a history of domestic violence shot his grandmother in the face before going to Robb Elementary to kill children. He messaged several people on Facebook during his murder spree.
News reports indicate the shooter used weapons recently purchased legally. The shooter had said he wanted to join the Marines so he could kill people.
Not all the victims have been identified. Weapons of war cause horrific damage to the human body, even more so for a child. Police have recommended parents not see their child's body.
My local Texas Representative has an A rating from the NRA. Suburban mothers defeated Trump after he proved he didn't care about the health of their families. They elected Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin after he scared them about their child's education. What will suburban moms do about the prospect of their children dying from war level wounds?
For any upcoming bond issue the Uvalde ISD would have to use an underwriter that supports military style weapons for civilian use. It's required by Texas law which prohibits discrimination against firearm entities or trade associations.
... the gun industry has been successful in state capitols at fending off new regulations -- or, in the case of Texas, finding ways to even increase its might.
The Texas law has already cast ripples across Wall Street, where Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had been curtailing some ties to gun companies, including by not lending to those that make military-style weapons for civilian use. Citigroup Inc. had also put in place restrictions for retailers that it works with.
The Texas bill requires any public contract valued at or more than $100,000 to include a provision that states the company does not and will not discriminate against a firearm entity or trade association.
Officials at the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District recently considered adding a multi-million bond referendum to the November ballot for school improvement projects, according to local news reporting. To float that debt issue, any underwriter would have to promise not to curtail its gun-industry ties.
Corporations have free speech rights that enables them to make massive political donations. The State of Texas has gone one better for the purveyors of battlefield weapons. Will suburban moms speak loudly and once again use their vote? They are the difference makers of our time.
Update 5-26-22: Reuters reported:
The process of identifying the children was excruciating - "children don't carry IDs, they don't have name badges," Justice of the Peace Eulalio Diaz Jr. said.
Many of the bodies were in bad shape. Diaz tried to spare the parents as much pain as possible, hoping to positively identify the murdered children through descriptions their parents gave of clothing they wore to school that day, of photos parents showed him.
But it wasn't enough. The bodies were too shot up. The Texas Rangers ordered DNA swabs of family members.
Update 5-27-22: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed out of his planned appearance at the NRA Convention in Houston. He will instead address the convention via video.
Satirical newspaper The Onion wrote of the latest massacre of children "No way to prevent this, says only nation where this regularly happens.”
Update 5-28-22: While Texas officials kept changing their story chronicling the events of the massacre Trump spoke at the NRA Convention in Houston.
commanders at Robb School chose not to storm the classroom even as the shooter continued firing, and as students were on the phone with 911 operators pleading for police protection.
DNA was required to identify children readily recognizable prior to the massacre. Remember that suburban moms.
Trump read the names of the victims of the Uvalde school massacre at the NRA meeting. A gong sounded after each name. After the reading Trump damned the shooter to hell, said more guns are needed to solve America's problem of repeated mass killings and he closed his speech with a little shuffle dance. Most Trump properties prohibit firearms as does his political rallies.
Update 5-29-22: Trump called the insurrection "a hoax" at a Wyoming rally. Seven people died as a result of Trump's right wing middle-aged wilding.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell held up common sense gun reform after other student massacres, retail shopping executions and churchgoer mass murders. Will he do so again? It depends on suburban moms.
Update 5-30-22: Duplicitous Governor Greg Abbott gave two different gun speeches at the same time with two different messages, one for Uvalde and one for NRA. Suburban moms take notice.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blamed the Uvalde school shooting on mental health but cut close to $200 million from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees mental health services.
Update 6-2-22: Governonr Abbott will not call a special session of the Texas legislature to deal with the Uvalde elementary school massacre. He did call special sessions in 2021 to deal with "disallowing a student from competing in University Interscholastic League athletic competitions designated for the sex opposite to the student's sex at birth" and critical race theory. Prior political boogeymen garnered special sessions but not the real massacre of innocent children that required DNA to identify the remains. Uvalde victims families have no recourse against the gun manufacturer or authorities who failed to protect their loved ones due to legal immunity.
Update 8-4-22: News organizations are suing the Texas Department of Public Safety for not complying with public information records requests. Are Texas officials trying to keep their failures from suburban moms?
Update 5-7-23: Texas experienced 16 mass shootings thus far in 2023 (29 deaths, 58 injured). The latest at a shopping mall in Allen, Texas resulted in eight innocent deaths. A witness said one dead young lady had no face as a result of the shooter using an AR-15 style rifle (a weapon of war). Texas officials have little information for the public.
