Uwalde, Texas (AP) – Surrounded by fellow Republicans on stage in high school, Gov. Greg Abbott was concluding his opening remarks on the assassination of students and teachers in Uwalde, Texas, as Beto O’Rourke stepped forward from his seat in the audience.
“Gov. Abbot, I have something to say, “the Democrat, who is challenging Abbott for governor this fall, said on Wednesday, pointing to his rival. “It’s time to stop the next shooting right now, and you’re not doing anything.”
A mixture of boos and applause erupted from the crowd as the former congressman and presidential candidate for 2020 spoke briefly, then was escorted out of the room. Senator Ted Cruz, standing behind Abbott, shook his head and said, “Sit down!” While a woman in the crowd chanted, “Let him speak.” Uwalde Mayor Don McLaughlin shouted that O’Rourke was a “sick son of a bitch.” Some people cried.
And with that, the briefing became a controversy similar to the one that is happening in many parts of America after another school shooting that caused a shocking number of deaths – 19 children and two teachers.
Democrats want to talk about imposing restrictions on who can own a firearm and what kind of weapons should be available, while Republicans say such laws are meaningless and prefer to focus on other issues such as school security – or avoid it altogether. the discussion.
“We need all Texans at this point to put their own programs aside, to think of someone other than themselves, to think of people who are hurt,” Abbott said as soon as O’Rourke came out, his voice rising. .
Lieutenant-Governor Dan Patrick, taking the microphone moments later, insisted it was time to focus on the victims and their families, adding: “This is not a party issue. This is not a political issue. “
But for many – including those in the high school classroom – partisanship and politics are inevitable. Tuesday’s mass shooting in the small town west of San Antonio was just the latest in Texas in recent years. After a gunman killed 23 people in a racist attack in 2019 targeting Spaniards at Walmart in El Paso, Texas lawmakers loosened gun laws.
Abbott said on Wednesday that he considered the steps the Republican-controlled lawmaker took in 2019 to be the “deepest” action anywhere in the United States to stop school shootings. He and other Republican officials said the right place to focus was on mental health and “hardening schools” or making them safer, not on limiting weapons.
He called the existing weapons laws in Chicago, New York and California ineffective.
“I hate to say that, but there are more people who shoot themselves every weekend in Chicago than in Texas schools. And we need to realize that people who think that “Well, maybe we’re just enforcing tougher gun laws” will do that – Chicago, Los Angeles and New York are disproving that, “he said.
O’Rourke, meanwhile, was standing outside the parking lot, where he continued to call for gun control.
“If we do nothing, we will continue to see this,” he said, “year after year, school after school, child after child.”
Residents of Uwalde also supported both sides in the debate.
Ariana Diaz, 17, said she had friends in the close-knit community who had lost siblings. Speaking to her high school, where the press conference was being held, Diaz said she would like to see O’Rourke elected governor. She noted that the shooter was 18 years old and could buy two pistols.
“It’s not right,” she said. “He is only 18. He is not even old enough to buy an alcoholic beverage. He doesn’t have to be old enough to buy a gun.
Laura Ligoki, 41, said that as a mother, the shooting was “shocking”, but she did not see gun restrictions as a solution.
“Everyone wants gun control, and I don’t think that helps,” she said in the parking lot, where O’Rourke called for restrictions on firearms. “I think it makes things worse.
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Burnett reported from Chicago. Associated Press reporter Jake Bleiberg contributed from Dallas.
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