Republican Solutions Are More Of The Same Death And Suffering
This is what happens when being "pro-life" means valuing guns over human life
You might be surprised to learn that Texas Republicans offered all sorts of solutions in the wake of Tuesday’s massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. They’re eager to show that they aren’t devoid of ideas and want to be part of the solution.
OK, so what did they offer up? Well, don’t get your hopes up; you’ve heard all of this before:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said, “Obviously, we have to do more,” saying that schools should be “hardened” to prevent attacks. What does that mean? Who knows? Who cares? We’ll all forget about this in a few days, anyway.
Sen. Ted Cruz chimed in with “more armed law enforcement on campuses.” YAY, MORGUNZ!!! And more police who won’t rush into school buildings when the shooting starts.
Several Republicans offered up the idea of arming more teachers. But is that something teachers will be willing to do? Teachers want to teach children, not be the first line of defense.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he’d favor more armed citizens on school campuses over common-sense gun control. Because, let’s face it, common sense is WAY overrated. And who WOULDN’T want more trigger-happy civilians wandering the halls of Texas’ schools?
It should come as no surprise that NO Texas Republican came out in favor of reducing access to guns because, in the Lone Star State, babies come out of the womb with an AR-15. And, as any REAL Texan will happily remind you, an armed society is a scared shitless polite society.
Besides, NO ONE wants them damned Libs trying to politicize a tragic mass shooting, right?
Of course they don’t.
“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,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R) told reporters as parents waited for news of their missing children and provided DNA swabs to police to help identify the young victims. “That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime.”
He went on to say that the “most effective” tool to keep kids safe in schools is more armed law enforcement on campuses.
That’s right; the ONLY way you’re going to fix the problem of too many guns in society is with YET MORE GUNS. For only when every good, God-fearing Texan is armed, ready to defend themselves, and, if necessary, prepared to turn Texas into a free-fire zone will the Lone Star State be genuinely safe.
And don’t get me started on the dangers of accidental discharges….
Or truly under siege. It’ll probably be difficult to tell the difference, to be honest. Not that the 2nd Amendment zealots will care one way or the other, because MORGUNZ is ALWAYS better.
The problem with Republican solutions is that they ignore the most critical salient fact- schools are supposed to be learning environments. How are students supposed to learn if their schools become the equivalent of the forward observation bases the US Army might have constructed in Afghanistan?
It won't be easy to create an environment conducive to learning if students are scared to be in school. If adults from teachers to custodians to police to adult volunteers are armed, what sort of message does that send?
Republicans are approaching this problem backasswards. The “most effective” tool isn’t more armed enforcement on campuses. That might be part of a package of ideas, but relying solely on throwing more guns at the problem entirely misses the point. Guns, notably weapons of war, are far too easy to obtain. Until that changes, nothing will change.
I realize that we live in a far different world than the one I grew up in, but Republicans want to craft solutions that benefit their masters in the gun industry. They’re not thinking about children or their safety. If they were, they’d understand that while prisons may be armed camps, our schools should be a different environment entirely.
THINK ABOUT THE POOR GUNS!!
“When you hear the instantaneous politicization of an incident like this….”
For some reason, Republicans can defend guns after a horrific massacre like Uvalde, but when Democrats speak out, it’s “TOO SOON!” “THEY’RE POLITICIZING THE ATTACK!” “HOW DARE THEY USE THE STILL-WARM BODIES OF CHILDREN TO PULL AT OUR HEARTSTRINGS!”
If we can’t discuss gun reform after an attack, when can we? The truth is that the Far-Right will never allow for such a discussion. There’s never a “good time,” it’s always “too soon,” and so they’ll always work to shut down a debate over common-sense gun reform. To their way of thinking, the time is never right.
And so it will go, right up until the next massacre, when we’ll replay the same charade all over again.
Lather, rinse, repeat.