After Mass Killings in Texas, Frustration but No Action on Guns
Mamie Lester, 59, a steadfast Republican who lives on a 50-acre farm in North Texas, said she and her husband had more than a dozen guns — rifles, shotguns and pistols — that remain carefully locked up in their home when not in use. But the killings in Allen, coming after other recent mass shootings, has deepened her feeling that something has to be done.
“I do realize that this is all out of control,” she said. “I’m not totally against gun control, but they’re trying to control it for the wrong people. You’ve got to keep the guns out the hands of the criminals.” She said better background checks could be an answer.
Gregory K. Taggart, a firearms trainer at Texas Legends, a gun range in Allen near where the latest shooting occurred, echoed Governor Abbott when he said that mental health needed to be considered in any analysis of recent gun violence. “Guns have been around forever. Mass shootings have not been,” Mr. Taggart said. “My first question would be, Why do we have mass shootings now? I think our society is breaking down.”
Restricting guns is not the answer, he added. “When people talk about drunk driving, do they say, Let’s ban cars?”
Part of the reason Republicans in Texas may not feel political pressure on the issue is the state’s recent electoral history. The Uvalde shooting took place during a hard-fought governor’s race between Mr. Abbott, running for a third term, and Beto O’Rourke, a former Democratic congressman who campaigned for some of the same gun control proposals that have recently been before the legislature. Mr. Abbott won by a wide margin.
Source: The New York Times
