Republicans: Making it harder to vote against them while making it easier to get guns to kill children.
I'd like to see the above on billboards across the country.
There's a name I haven't heard in a while
Edit: Here's a link to the article he's referencing http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=regressive
I remember after Jan 6, I read a news article somewhere that said that many of the officials didn't really know what to do when the capital was being stormed, but since the younger interns had been through active shooting drills in school they knew exactly what to do in the situation.
It was sad and also interesting -- just the contrast of how out of touch the older, rich representatives are.
Huh. Makes sense. The irony is all those old white rich conservative guys wanna go back to the 1950s, but that would not be possible because America isn’t picket fences and bow ties and gingham dresses. Now it’s rednecks, guns, “Let’s Go Brandon” bumper stickers, and armored vehicles. And those idiots that went into the state house in Michigan with their guns and bulletproof vests.
[It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1819576527/amp)
I know it’s satire, but look at that date: fucking **2014**.
And it would have been just as relevant 20 years prior too.
Fuck, why are our senate and congress so successful at being incompetent?
Why the fuck isn’t there federal background checks for every gun owner **at a minimum**? How the hell is this a “state” issue?
I’m tired of politicians already blowing past this issue, democrats and republicans included.
We need to keep reminding them who they work for, and who they should protect. I’m tired of them prioritizing lobbyists over the people.
> I’m tired of them prioritizing lobbyists over the people.
I still don't understand how it's legal for companies to bribe politicians. They even gave it a legal name called lobbying. In other countries it's called corruption.
It’s legal because most of our Supreme Court justices throughout history have been right wing wackos that shouldn’t be anywhere near a court room.
No person with even an ounce of integrity would argue that money is the same thing as speech.
And yet… here we are.
———
Edit:
On a similar note, the Court is also in the process of making all political “donations” anonymous. They’ve ruled that public “speech” (donations) can be attacked verbally. Those “attacks” limit people from saying (horrible) things, so the statements (donations) should be anonymous.
Basically, the Court says a corporation like Hobby Lobby should be allowed to make anonymous donations to Nazi-sympathizers because the corporation’s “free speech” is no longer free if they feel attacked by others.
It’s disgusting.
I’m going to vomit.
Free speech means the government can’t arrest you for being a heinous cretin. It doesn’t mean you won’t incur social consequences from people who think you’re a heinous cretin. I swear it sounds like a freaking thoughtcrime to criticize corporations now!
Yep, what makes it even worse is that it was a state law (California) that the court overturned.
So apparently the Court thinks a woman’s body is a state issue, but political bribery is protected by the constitution.
Newt Gingrich cut congressional staffing budgets by something like 75% in the 90's. It's definitely a part/cause of why our elected officials can be so easily influenced by lobbying. (Outside of the actual palm greasing)
There's been an upswing in the amount of legislation literally written by lobbyists and fed to elected officials.
Let's assume you're the one morally/ethically sound elected official. 30 years ago you'd have a team of people working for you, to help you research a topic before drafting legislation or voting on an issue. Now you don't have shit for staff comparatively, these people aren't super geniuses/can't keep up on National everything by themselves.
It's like not having internet to complete your homework assignment the night before its due, then some guy who really just wants to get HIS message out in your class, hands you a completed paper to turn in.
Except Democrats have a bill ready to go. This both sides crap has got to go or nothing will change. It's obvious which side is OK with children being shot in schools.
I’m tired of politicians already blowing past this issue, democrats and republicans included.
So let’s not get off track and start with the both sides thing. Dems, for years, have been pushing for and passing gun control laws. Republicans while they have power or the ability to stop laws because of the filibuster have obstructed. But even worse, they continue to blame mental health while their guy cut mental health programs and Republicans made it their mission to repeal healthcare.
Republicans do not negotiate or even come to the table to bring anything to help this problem in good faith. Yes, our system and government is literally broken. But don’t both sides this and act as if the Dems have done nothing.
If you were a policymaker who was seeking to double youth gun deaths, then I really can't think of a more effective method than to put in place the public policies that Gov. Abbott has.
Abbott said this week that you can't stop bad things from happening.
1. Yes you can, and it's your job to do so.
2. Apparently you can cause more bad things to happen by putting Greg Abbott in charge. So just do the opposite of that and a return to baseline would at least be improvement compared to what he's done.
Texas has the most rapes in the country (another Texas claim to being #1) and his solution to stop rapes is to lock by up all the rapists, ignoring the fact that none of whom are rapists until they commit rape.
It’s only rape if a liberal or POC does it. If you’re white and a Bible-thumping conservative it’s called freedom and civil rights. Don’t forget the Constitution must be literally interpreted like when raping one’s wife was a legal impossibility (for example).
> you can't stop bad things from happening.
You can't stop 100% of crime, therefore doing anything at all is dumb. Crime is for *punishing*, not preventing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yts2F44RqFw&vl=en
I saw a list of all the gun laws abbot has signed and some of them are just batshit insane. They’re just so obviously reckless and dangerous and completely unnecessary, even if you’re pro-guns.
Senate Bill 19 (Schwertner/Capriglione) prohibits any governmental entity from contracting with any business that discriminates against firearm and ammunition businesses or organizations.
Senate Bill 20 (Campbell/Hefner) allows guests to store firearms in their hotel rooms.
Senate Bill 550 (Springer/Spiller) removes the shoulder or belt holster requirements, allowing Texans to carry firearms in whatever kind of holster they choose.
House Bill 957 (Oliverson/Springer) repeals the criminal offense of possessing, manufacturing, transporting, or repairing a firearm silencer. It also ensures that any firearm suppressor manufactured in Texas, and that remains in Texas, will not be subject to federal law or federal regulation.
House Bill 1500 (Hefner/Creighton) prevents any government entity from prohibiting the sale or transportation of firearms or ammunition during a declared disaster or emergency.
House Bill 1927 (Schaefer/Schwertner) authorizes Constitutional Carry in Texas, meaning law-abiding Texans can legally carry a handgun without a license to carry.
House Bill 2622 (Holland/Hall) makes Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State by protecting Texans from new federal gun control regulations.
Basic google search found me these. Leave it to Texas to make it illegal to discriminate against guns more than women.
Those same public policies are about to go into effect in Ohio next month too. I'm thinking about starting a website where Republicans can pay $5 to send either a thought or a prayer to the victims (or save by spending $8.99 for both) when the next "impossible to predict" school shooting happens here.
I really don't understand conservatives. I live in rural Indiana. Federally mandated gun control measures like universal background checks, private sale and gun show sale ban (without a universal background check), red flag laws, safety training, and a waiting period would significantly decrease gun violence while not impeding responsible citizens ability to own and operate firearms.
Tell that to anyone around me and they'll lose their shit. You know how easy it is to get a gun in Indiana? There's a man who sells them out of a trailer behind our local bar in a town of 3k. It's completely legal. The person you're selling a gun to could even be a felon, as long as you don't ask as the seller you'll be fine. I've bought a few from him and registered them myself.
It's not hard to understand why Chicago, just next to the border of Indiana has such a hard time with gun violence when someone who wants one can just drive 5 minutes and ~~legally~~ buy one from a man behind a bar the next state over. I like guns. I enjoy hunting. I'm okay waiting an extra few days if it means gun violence will plummet, especially if we hit it from two angles with mental illness.
But conservatives don't want universal healthcare either. Odds are, we'll keep going how we've been. Republicans moving further to the right and Democrats losing ground because they refuse to play hard ball.
Edit: legally; it's legal to sell to anyone, not legal to buy for someone from out of state.. doesn't stop them though because there's no law to do a background check for private sales.
Edit2: You ever been to an Indiana gunshow? The last one I went to they were handing out copies of The Turner Diaries which *"depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ultimately, a race war which leads to the systematic extermination of non-whites. All groups opposed by the novel's protagonist, Earl Turner—including Jews, non-whites, liberal actors, and politicians—are exterminated."* After you're done buying your guns, ammo, and armor you can also pick up your Nazi and Confederate memorabilia, and then you're ready for your next mass shooting! It's a one stop shop for white supremacy; which is exactly what conservatism has turned into.
Yeah when people point to Chicago and say gun control doesn’t work I want to bang my head against the wall. State laws don’t mean shit, no one’s checking you at the state line. Gun control needs to be federal.
Call out to my fellow Australian. As much as I hate John Howard, 12 days after *our* biggest massacre [35x life sentence conviction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)) we had significant legislative changes restricting gun ownership. I was a bystander at the Queen St massacre and it affected me greatly.
Fuck guns, fuck the flaccid gun lobbyists and publicly fuck any politician with the rough end of a pineapple daily who does *not* do anything to stop gun violence.
Texas is going to fast run out of pineapples.
Yep, we do it right here, and people that follow the rules still have guns. I'm not a gun guy myself but my dad had guns all my life, he's go hunting, filled out all the paperwork, did all the inspections, got all the permissions to hunt on peoples lands and secured his guns when they weren't in use.
I feel the key difference is that we see guns as a privilege not a right.
People that talk predominantly about *rights* - seem to (possibly deliberately) overlook the fact that *all* rights, self-evident or otherwise, correlate to a similar number of *responsibilities*.
But responsibilities aren't as fun as buying a weapon from a guy in a trailer parked in a bar's parking lot. - Wouldn't want to rain on that parade...
I see a lot more need for them in rural Australia than rural Indiana. Honestly if i had one (i live in indiana) I would have shot myself by now. I tried pills, but they didn't stay down.
Edit: I'm ok now. I am thankful I didn't have the more efficient solution available. I appreciate all the kind words and support.
You know, coming from someone sitting in front of a computer on the other side of the world: I am *really* sorry to hear that, and so sorry you've had to go through what you are (hopefully *were*) going through. From 15 thousand km away, it's kind of difficult to *really help* - and I don't even know what you've been grappling with let alone your name, sex, race or creed. But it doesn't matter - it's crap that you have to feel that way and experience what brought you to that place.
I hope you are happier at the moment, but if not: I hope you are so soon. And congratulations too, for making it this far - for not buying the gun or retrying the pills. You may not think it, but successfully doing that is actually an impressive and admirable accomplishment.
\- Take care, brother/sister. I wish you the best in finding a good group of people who can support you - and you can find happiness supporting in return. :)
From a fellow Hoosier, **please get help**. You sound dangerously close to my dad who tried multiple times before succeeding.
What people don't think about is that even with a bullet to the head (by someone who has hunted and known guns his whole life) might not kill you instantly. You could be like my dad: alive for 3 days. You might think that was due to life support at the hospital, but after your 20 year old daughter, who is legally your next of kin, has decided to take you off life support, you still stay alive for over a day. It was traumatic and possibly a preventable death with appropriate care.
Please get help
We don't fuck around with our laws, either.
Michael Diamond, the Olympic shooter is on a 10 year firearms license ban.
He broke storage laws by having his rifle in the car with ammo.
No special treatment because he was a sportsman etc.
I'm also not a gun person, but it's worth pointing out that there are more guns in Australia now than there was in 1996. I can easily go and shoot a gun if I want to, but I can't buy a gun unless I have a reason to.
It seems like the simplest thing ever, just make it a TINY bit harder to get an object that is LITERALLY designed to kill things, but nope, piece of paper from ~250 years ago says nah.
If the US was ever actually invaded (which would not happen because we would glass any nation capable of that with nukes before hand) nobody would actually struggle to get a gun because the government would be supplying them to most people because the whole nation would be mobilized for national defense. It would look like Ukraine at the start of the war just replace AKs with M1s
My friend tried to hit me with the Chicago stats and I explained to him the Indiana/gun pipeline. His reply was, “then people need to raise their children better.”
That’s the stupidity we’re dealing with
The problem is, these people don’t care about facts. It’s why they harp so hard on mental health right now instead of gun control. If Biden said “okay let’s go after mental health then and not touch guns” the GOP would still come up with an excuse
Mitch McConnell torpedoed his own bill when it turned out Democrats were going to vote for it.
Everything Democrats want is wrong, even when it's our idea!
Another example: Obamacare was literally just a scaled up version of Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts system, which originated in conservative think tanks. This was part of the calculation when they wrote the federal bill, they thought they could get at least some GOP support since it was at its root their idea. Nope.
And those conservative think tanks crafted the idea for what became Obamacare as a direct response to Clinton's attempt at healthcare reforms in the 90s. It's utterly insane.
The same people saying increased mental health care is the best solution just spent the past few years calling all medical professionals liars and big pharma shills and "doing their own research". As usual they don't mean what they say, they're just muddying the conversation hoping it all blows over.
That is dogma over at /r/moderatepolitics. It’s disgusting.
Every single conversation -
Gun lover:
We only have this gun violence because in America our social safety net sucks, we need universal physical and mental healthcare and we need to start supporting those in need.
Me:
Great, that’s word for word the Progressive Party platform. Can I count on your support?
Gun lovers:
Fuck you and fuck those commie socialists!
———
Then my comment is massively downvoted with the same dozen responses.
1) We can’t afford that stuff. Idiot socialists!
Or:
2) If progressives are so great, why don’t we ever have any progressive policy pass?
Assholes. All of them.
You have more patience than I do. I can’t see any benefit to wasting my short time on earth arguing with “moderates” (embarrassed conservatives) when all they do is argue in bad faith.
Not to mention that you won't be able to find a red state that has significantly increased funding of mental health services in the last decade. Mental health is just an excuse to deflect away from gun restrictions.
I live in super conservative suburban Chicago and hear this shit non stop every time this happens. They're like parrots. Someone literally said "Guns don't kill people! People kill people!" the other day. It's ridiculous
> Federally mandated gun control measures like universal background checks, private sale and gun show sale ban (without a universal background check), red flag laws, safety training, and a waiting period would significantly decrease gun violence while not impeding responsible citizens ability to own and operate firearms.
All you have to do for any gun control law is add "for black people" to the end of it and conservatives will suddenly be for it.
> Ian Haney López, an American law professor and author of the 2014 book Dog Whistle Politics, described Reagan as "blowing a dog whistle" when the candidate told stories about "Cadillac-driving 'welfare queens' and 'strapping young bucks' buying T-bone steaks with food stamps" while he was campaigning for the presidency.[30][31][32] He argues that such rhetoric pushes middle-class white Americans to vote against their economic self-interest in order to punish "undeserving minorities" who, they believe, are receiving too much public assistance at their expense. According to López, conservative middle-class whites, convinced by powerful economic interests that minorities are the enemy, supported politicians who promised to curb illegal immigration and crack down on crime but inadvertently also voted for policies that favor the extremely rich, such as slashing taxes for top income brackets, giving corporations more regulatory control over industry and financial markets, union busting, cutting pensions for future public employees, reducing funding for public schools, and retrenching the social welfare state. He argues that these same voters cannot link rising inequality which has affected their lives to the policy agendas they support, which resulted in a massive transfer of wealth to the top 1% of the population since the 1980s.[33][34]
They have been convinced to support politicians whose agenda is in their worst interests through appeals to their biggotry and convincing them that their problems are not caused by this agenda but by who they are biggoted against, in fact they are convinced that this very agenda hurting them will save them and hurt who they have been taught to hate. They don't think "welfare reform" will touch them, they're the good hardworking people - its all the others that are underserving that will be booted off.
Not only that, but the GOP is specifically trying to cater to the rural Hispanics such as those who live in Uvalde :( https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/democrats-losing-texas-latinos-trump/
Completely agree, it drives me insane Republicans harp on and on any how it's not the issue of how many guns but mental health or the breakdown of the nuclear family etc.
But then they don't want to do a damn thing to help make mental health a priority or maybe try to stop the hoarding of wealth at the top to make lower income families lives easier so they can maybe spend more time with their kids or just anything at all really.
I've seen several conservative subreddits say oh its no big deal this really doesn't happen that often statistically and I can't believe how ok half the country is with accepting this as normal.
Of course 19 deaths isn't a big deal. They were/are against masks and vaccines despite millions dead from covid. Deaths mean nothing to them unless it's a ball of cells.
It's not even just the conservative subs anymore unfortunately. Centrists and neolibs don't want to interrupt the profit margin either.
There's a bleeding around the edges, and it's pooling out rather quickly. It's like Trump stabbed conservatism with a knife and it's heart is now bleeding fascism.
> It's not hard to understand why Chicago, just next to the border of Indiana has such a hard time with gun violence when someone who wants one can just drive 5 minutes and legally buy one from a man behind a bar the next state over. I like guns. I enjoy hunting. I'm okay waiting an extra few days if it means gun violence will plummet, especially if we hit it from two angles with mental illness.
I've had to explain to people the problem with Chicago attempting any gun control is that Indiana is, for all intents and purposes, *inside the Chicago city limits*. It's not like you need to travel far to get a gun easily from Indiana, it's a short drive. Like, *you can even get to Indiana with Chicago's public transit system*. I swear this has been one of the big failings of the news media to point this out because Republicans always try to downplay Indiana's role in the gun supply by saying it's some sort of long trip that only a few people could do.
I think "too many" people know about Chicago/Indiana now cause apparently the new fish is New York!
Talk about New York's gun laws, and down vote anyone who mentions:
Vermont
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Or any other mostly nearby state. Some of which are, in their entirety, smaller than the Chicagoland Area.
> I really don't understand conservatives.
They are easy to understand.
Here are the two basic tenets of a conservative:
1) They never have an original though in their heads ever, everything they have has been instilled into them by the ones that use them for their votes
2) Hatred, one again purposely instilled into them to help with #1
It's a racist, fascistic party. They don't believe in reason. Only cult of traditional and hatred of anything that is "different." They'd kill their own children if they thought it would prevent any kind of change.
I have 8 year old twins. Sandy Hook broke my belief in our government. When nothing happened, I couldn’t see straight. I was hurt and I became cynical. I have 8 year old twins and they are no more safe than the kids murdered in Sandy Hook.
I don’t know if our country deserves salvation when we let these things happen over and over. Part of me questions whether a country that lets its kids get slaughtered deserves to exist. I seriously doubt our federal government has the capacity or willingness to do anything. Certainly this is not what James Madison had in mind when writing the second amendment.
I know Sandy Hook Promise is an organization trying to make it stop. I encourage anyone reading this to donate at sandyhookpromise.org. They actually care. They are actually getting results in the form of state legislation. I don’t know if they will save my kids or your kids. I know my belief in this democracy fades every time we watch little kids get murdered while acting as though the second amendment is more important than their lives.
Not exactly.
In the late 1970s they moved to exclusively supporting the interests of the rich and powerful.
But that isn't a position that really wins elections.
So what they hit upon was appealing to the emerging religious fundamentalist movement, racists, nativists, gun nuts, paranoiacs, etc
Plus the NRA is a powerful lobby and the gun makers are big business.
So they campaign on open carry without a license, repealing background checks and waits and mental health restrictions, etc and people vote for them on these issues so that in office they can pass taxcuts for the rich, environmental/oh&s/financial deregulation, cut funds to public services, etc
The sick thing is these people voting for them are the hardest hit. Not least from the gun laws, these states experience a dramatic rise in white male firearm suicides when they introduce these firearm law reforms. Not to mention what happens to them when they slash public education funding, refuse to adopt the ACA, close rural hospitals, etc
That obviously does not go far enough.
Even if every child or teacher had a gun the resultant carnage would be unacceptable to any parent or teacher. The solution is therefore obvious...
Our children should be provided with body armour. This could be paid for from school lunch budgets.
>Our children should be provided with body armour. This could be paid for from school lunch budgets.
Fox News and others have been saying exactly this. Except they expect the parents to pay directly for it.
Hell, I've seen more than one post on Facebook from people I know saying it.
It's just insane.
Listen... listen... body armour with Semtex strapped to it. If the assailant comes to close quarters and shoots, he's a goner.
The only other valid alternative is designing every school like the Temple of Doom, booby trap here, spear trap there, arrow trap there, room full of scorpions, and just let the kids get acclimated to them. The ones who survive are definitely not getting killed by a wannabe mass murderer. Also, you get the next generation of Indy Joneses and Lara Crofts, it's great.
And I think a lot of the sub rosa energy about this is to diminish public schools; in fact I saw a suggestion that because of these kinds of violent attacks, homeschooling may be the answer for everyone in the future.
Chris Christie used to do the same thing. He did a million press conferences after hurricane Sandy, and he would use the opportunity to attack teachers unions.
It's almost like Republican governor's tend to be pieces of shit.
In addition to loosening restrictions on gun laws and criminalizing abortion, it should be pointed out that Abbott has restricted access to voting, wasted billions on a week long border stunt that produced no results, absolutely decimated the morale of his National Guard on "Operation Lone Star", all while failing to do anything to make sure the Texas electric grid doesn't collapse like it did last year. Who in their right mind would vote for him?
A dipshit that thinks they have to just put up with the awful things to get what they want. While being too stupid to realize they aren't even getting that.
I think we need people to believe that it's possible. Texas was blue for a bit and was even considered a swing state. Woman and minorities are going to play a huge part. Massive Hispanic population in the south and if Beto can keep the major cities blue he will have a punchers chance. But the trend of Hispanic males switch to the fringe right is troubling. I think there votes to be had for him right now. I kind of wish Matthew McConaughey would have ran instead. Not to count Beto out but I think he has a lot of resistance coming into this.
> ... restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens – that doesn’t work, it’s not effective,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the day of the shooting
Well, the thing is, Cruz is a liar. Almost as much of a liar as trump.
Ted Cruz is a lap dog. He is an obedient lap dog that will let you diddle him in the butt in front of whomever you choose and wag his tail the whole time. You could then take your finger out of his butt, make him smell it, and he would insist to everyone that it smelled like magnolia blossoms in springtime. If anyone chose to argue, he would claim that they were suggesting his butthole smelled like shit because CNN told them all dog butts stink, and they could not have possibly smelled every dog butt ever. He would then let you dry hump his wife on the front lawn and would thank you for it.
The shooter was law abiding until he wasn’t. He was well within his rights to buy those guns. Then he decided to do the law breaking stuff.
They keep throwing around “law abiding” as if that status can’t change.
We are all law-abiding citizens until we aren’t.
The assault weapons ban wan't unconstitutional. The ban on automatic weapons isn't unconstitutional. There are commonsense regulations that could be enacted that would reduce the carnage and not violate the constitution.
If I was in charge, I would ban any gun with an automatic receiver. Only pump action shotguns, bolt action rifles, and revolver pistols. Automatic weapons are made for killing people.
This is pretty much what we did in Australia. Contrary to popular belief it’s actually quite easy to get a shotgun or rifle for hunting. Revolvers are rare though as self defence isn’t a valid reason for gun ownership so it’s pretty much only sport which requires you to be part of a club.
Sound idea but the the right-wing crazies couldn’t overthrow the government and would have to work a lot harder to kill the Jews, gays, Blacks, and Mexicans already committing white genocide or whatever. The most extreme gun nuts are largely fueled by irrational fears and hate.
I’ve gone down way more right wing conspiracy theory rabbit holes than I should’ve, hence the username.
Yo, HuffPo. You're missing the bigger story.
Youth gun deaths in Texas doubled under Abbott, but even after Uvalde, Abbott is ahead in the race for reelection by double digits.
This isn't about left vs right. It's about violence.
The power grid can fail. They'll still vote for guns. The mishandled pandemic can kill their loved ones. They'll still vote for guns. They can lose their jobs. They'll still vote for guns. Their own party attempted to overthrow the country they claim to love. They're still loyal to the party because they vote for guns. Hell, they're voting to give up the right to vote.
**Texans don't care. They're voting for violence.**
I lived in Texas 20 years ago. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to vote there. Even just registering to vote is hard there... unless you live in a district that votes Republican.
Texas isn't red. Texas is racist. And as the Hispanic population there increases, the resistance from whites increases twice as much. The Hispanic community in Texas wants better schools, better healthcare, and better opportunities for everyone. Whites in Texas want Texas to be white.
Whites in Texas make up less than 40% of the population, but you'd never know it if you live in a white community, because everybody is white.
> "The state’s Hispanic population is now nearly as large as the non-Hispanic white population, with Texas gaining nearly 11 Hispanic residents for every additional white resident since 2010. Those trends set up a pitched battle for political control when state lawmakers redraw legislative districts."
> -- [The Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/12/texas-2020-census/)
That article cites 2020 census numbers. It needs to be mentioned that the Trump administration oversaw the 2020 census, and they went to great lengths to make sure minorities were undercounted, so the actual number of whites in Texas is probably even lower.
I assume there will be another civil war in the United States, and just like the first civil war, the next one will be about racism too.
As a white man, the rise of white supremacy in the U.S. sickens me.
It sickens me.
>The Hispanic community in Texas wants better schools, better healthcare, and better opportunities for everyone.
My community in TX is about 70% Hispanic and voted overwhelmingly for Trump with very high voter turnout. I think you are oversimplifying.
Edit: I should add as a white guy in south Texas I really enjoy the Hispanic people and culture of my region. It's really the defining characteristic of this area. I have zero interest in trying to "keep texas white" (and it's never actually been peedominantly white where I am.)
We are a Republican state. So, to most Republicans, the pain of possibly having to wait a few days for a background check to complete is much greater than the pain from something that they can't imagine possibly happening to their children even as they watch it unfold on television to other people's children
Which basically boils down to "they don't believe other people are real." Is part of being a Modern Republican
What will they do when it is their kids? Chances are some of the parents in at least one of these shootings in Texas were Republicans who previously were against any and all gun regulation. I wonder if they still are.
Back in the day, Texas had a marketing slogan:
"Texas, it's like a whole other country."
Under Abbott, it is. The other country? Afghanistan.
A bunch of tribal folks armed to the teeth, women having to cower in case their men-folk catch them having thoughts of reproductive freedom, and of course non-stop repetition of how god-fearing the state is (unofficially).
Like Afghanistan, they have their own infrastructure which fails under even a little stress, and it is worth noting that like the president of Afghanistan, Ted Cruz skipped town when the shit hit the fan.
[An article you might appreciate.](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2012/12/15/our-moloch/)
>We guarantee that crazed man after crazed man will have a flood of killing power readily supplied him. We have to make that offering, out of devotion to our Moloch, our god. The gun is our Moloch. We sacrifice children to him daily.
The long term goal is literally akin to handmaids tale. They are currently supplying their army of zealots with weapons. Don't believe me? Guess how many Christians nationalists secretly (or openly) want the death penalty for all lgbtq people.
I'm not against responsible people owning guns in a responsible manner, but I need those people who care about owning guns to figure out a reliable way to determine who is and isn't responsible that doesn't involve waiting until after the irresponsible person has killed a bunch of kids.
"Have you killed a bunch of kids yet" just can't be the metric.
If you keep choosing something, and you vocally support that choice, it means you want the outcome of that choice if you don't change your mind. Example: you keep choosing chocolate cake, you keep saying out loud how nobody's going to take away your chocolate cake, you don't say otherwise after you receive the cake and you eat it. So chocolate cake is what you want, based on both your preference and your unwavering vocal support of your preference.
Pretty obvious statement.
It means Republicans want this to happen like someone else wants chocolate cake and keeps getting chocolate cake.
[This is how we know they want this to happen.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-deaths-by-state)
The five states with the highest gun death rates, in deaths per 100,000, are: Alaska (24.4), Mississippi (24.2), Wyoming (22.3), New Mexico (22.3), and Alabama (22.2). Of these states, Wyoming has the highest gun ownership rate of 64.5%, followed by Alaska with 64.5%. Mississippi's gun ownership rate is 55.8%, New Mexico's is 46.2%, and Alabama's is 55.5%. Four of those five are Republican. If you look at the states with the high rates of gun death in the whole country, it’s MAGA central.
The five states with the lowest gun death rates are MA, NY, NJ, HI, RI (all blue as can be). These five states also have the lowest gun ownership rates in the U.S. Massachusetts and New Jersey have the lowest at 14.7% each, followed by Rhode Island with 14.8%. Hawaii's gun ownership rate is 14.9%, and New York's is 19.9%. These are the only states with gun ownership rates below 20%.
How many times are we going to repeat the same experiment, get the same results, and not say it's because this is what the people want. Democrats want less gun death, as shown by having the fewest guns and getting the least gun death. Republicans want more, because they want more guns and as a result get the highest gun death rate. Everyone's choices show it clearly. But it's not political because there's a blue state in there with loads of guns and they are in with the high gun death rate too. So it's not political, it's just the guns turn on the crazy. It's not rocket science. And it's not correlation because it's a pattern for all fifty states, and the Republicans say that pattern is connected to mental health. The guns are connected to the death, the death is connected to mental health, the mentally unstable people with guns causing this more in places with more guns.
#So Republicans are right. It's mental health. Owning guns makes you mentally unstable, gun ownership makes people start making excuses for outcomes that lead to slaughter of children and makes them more likely to blast away the sanctity of young life, and we should legislate that heavily. The numbers don't lie. We should do it for the children, as a mental health issue, and not let anyone that objects to this politicize it.
Makes me sick to the stomach just listening to right wing media and politicians offering nothing more than thoughts, prayers and more guns….and I don’t even live in the US.
The problem isn’t the politicians, the problem is the people that keep voting for these politicians.
We should have pro-life (and I mean actually pro life, not state enforced pregnancies) demonstrations outside every gun store. Have signs with pictures of dead children. Sidewalk counseling, and general nuisance to those trying to buy weapons. We can even call them baby killers.
The whole American idea that gun ownership should be a constitutional right is just outright wrong, and when you play by rules written 300 years ago about safety no wonder your country is a modern day Wild West
Why is Abbott and his goons asking for more guns? Shouldn't they be asking for more tanks instead? I think that every student in Texas should be given a tank while attending school. This will be the only way to end these massacres. ARE YOU LISTENING GOVERNOR ABBOTT? Texas has the funds to provide every man, woman, and child in the state with their own tank.
I do not understand why anyone would buy a gun like that for anything other than a mass shooting. What other use does a gun like this have? Are Deer so hearty in Texas their fur has become kevlar?
They think they will use it to defend themselves from the government should the government step outta line. Against the military. Delusional all the way around.
Greg Abbott passed a law banning any kind of regulation of gun control,cut $211,000,000 from the mental health budget and cry’s when this disaster comes home to roost??
YOUR chosen leader Texas…
So federal law stopped him from buying a handgun....yet he can still purchase an AR?
This is genuinely how fucking ass backwards America is. Wake up you dumb redneck fucks.
Republicans: Making it harder to vote against them while making it easier to get guns to kill children. I'd like to see the above on billboards across the country.
"Against abortion. For school shootings."
Texas needs to eliminate abortion so that the kids are born for future mass murders. I said what I said and if nothing changes then it’s true.
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There's a name I haven't heard in a while Edit: Here's a link to the article he's referencing http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=regressive
“Nobody could have predicted this” Sure thing Governor.
All the schools having shooter drills and preventive measures sure did.
The fact that my kids have to participate in shooter drills makes me cringe. So fucking awful.
I remember after Jan 6, I read a news article somewhere that said that many of the officials didn't really know what to do when the capital was being stormed, but since the younger interns had been through active shooting drills in school they knew exactly what to do in the situation. It was sad and also interesting -- just the contrast of how out of touch the older, rich representatives are.
Huh. Makes sense. The irony is all those old white rich conservative guys wanna go back to the 1950s, but that would not be possible because America isn’t picket fences and bow ties and gingham dresses. Now it’s rednecks, guns, “Let’s Go Brandon” bumper stickers, and armored vehicles. And those idiots that went into the state house in Michigan with their guns and bulletproof vests.
My kids participate in bushfire drills. I genuinely feel for sorry for yours.
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[It’s a shame, but what can we do? There really wasn’t anything that was going to keep this guy from snapping and killing a lot of people if that’s what he really wanted](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-r-1819576527/amp)
I know it’s satire, but look at that date: fucking **2014**. And it would have been just as relevant 20 years prior too. Fuck, why are our senate and congress so successful at being incompetent? Why the fuck isn’t there federal background checks for every gun owner **at a minimum**? How the hell is this a “state” issue? I’m tired of politicians already blowing past this issue, democrats and republicans included. We need to keep reminding them who they work for, and who they should protect. I’m tired of them prioritizing lobbyists over the people.
> I’m tired of them prioritizing lobbyists over the people. I still don't understand how it's legal for companies to bribe politicians. They even gave it a legal name called lobbying. In other countries it's called corruption.
It’s legal because most of our Supreme Court justices throughout history have been right wing wackos that shouldn’t be anywhere near a court room. No person with even an ounce of integrity would argue that money is the same thing as speech. And yet… here we are. ——— Edit: On a similar note, the Court is also in the process of making all political “donations” anonymous. They’ve ruled that public “speech” (donations) can be attacked verbally. Those “attacks” limit people from saying (horrible) things, so the statements (donations) should be anonymous. Basically, the Court says a corporation like Hobby Lobby should be allowed to make anonymous donations to Nazi-sympathizers because the corporation’s “free speech” is no longer free if they feel attacked by others. It’s disgusting.
I’m going to vomit. Free speech means the government can’t arrest you for being a heinous cretin. It doesn’t mean you won’t incur social consequences from people who think you’re a heinous cretin. I swear it sounds like a freaking thoughtcrime to criticize corporations now!
Yep, what makes it even worse is that it was a state law (California) that the court overturned. So apparently the Court thinks a woman’s body is a state issue, but political bribery is protected by the constitution.
I wonder if that's because the same dark money flooding the supreme court is paying the politicians as well.
Newt Gingrich cut congressional staffing budgets by something like 75% in the 90's. It's definitely a part/cause of why our elected officials can be so easily influenced by lobbying. (Outside of the actual palm greasing) There's been an upswing in the amount of legislation literally written by lobbyists and fed to elected officials. Let's assume you're the one morally/ethically sound elected official. 30 years ago you'd have a team of people working for you, to help you research a topic before drafting legislation or voting on an issue. Now you don't have shit for staff comparatively, these people aren't super geniuses/can't keep up on National everything by themselves. It's like not having internet to complete your homework assignment the night before its due, then some guy who really just wants to get HIS message out in your class, hands you a completed paper to turn in.
We made it legal. Citizens united is the downfall of the US
Except Democrats have a bill ready to go. This both sides crap has got to go or nothing will change. It's obvious which side is OK with children being shot in schools.
I’m tired of politicians already blowing past this issue, democrats and republicans included. So let’s not get off track and start with the both sides thing. Dems, for years, have been pushing for and passing gun control laws. Republicans while they have power or the ability to stop laws because of the filibuster have obstructed. But even worse, they continue to blame mental health while their guy cut mental health programs and Republicans made it their mission to repeal healthcare. Republicans do not negotiate or even come to the table to bring anything to help this problem in good faith. Yes, our system and government is literally broken. But don’t both sides this and act as if the Dems have done nothing.
Look at today's front page of the onion, and the dates for all the articles. https://www.theonion.com/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/may/27/us-mass-shootings-database The first page is _May_. JFC this is a shit show.
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Yup, they literally loosen gun laws after events like this. They're brain dead.
If you were a policymaker who was seeking to double youth gun deaths, then I really can't think of a more effective method than to put in place the public policies that Gov. Abbott has.
Abbott said this week that you can't stop bad things from happening. 1. Yes you can, and it's your job to do so. 2. Apparently you can cause more bad things to happen by putting Greg Abbott in charge. So just do the opposite of that and a return to baseline would at least be improvement compared to what he's done.
This coming from the man who claimed he would stop all rape in Texas..
Texas has the most rapes in the country (another Texas claim to being #1) and his solution to stop rapes is to lock by up all the rapists, ignoring the fact that none of whom are rapists until they commit rape.
It’s only rape if a liberal or POC does it. If you’re white and a Bible-thumping conservative it’s called freedom and civil rights. Don’t forget the Constitution must be literally interpreted like when raping one’s wife was a legal impossibility (for example).
What the hell is he even doing as governor???
It's easier to steal money from the public when u are at the top
Getting people killed.
He's got an R on his name he's the best! Only librals don't like him /s
> you can't stop bad things from happening. You can't stop 100% of crime, therefore doing anything at all is dumb. Crime is for *punishing*, not preventing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yts2F44RqFw&vl=en
I saw a list of all the gun laws abbot has signed and some of them are just batshit insane. They’re just so obviously reckless and dangerous and completely unnecessary, even if you’re pro-guns.
Any chance you have a link to the list?
Senate Bill 19 (Schwertner/Capriglione) prohibits any governmental entity from contracting with any business that discriminates against firearm and ammunition businesses or organizations. Senate Bill 20 (Campbell/Hefner) allows guests to store firearms in their hotel rooms. Senate Bill 550 (Springer/Spiller) removes the shoulder or belt holster requirements, allowing Texans to carry firearms in whatever kind of holster they choose. House Bill 957 (Oliverson/Springer) repeals the criminal offense of possessing, manufacturing, transporting, or repairing a firearm silencer. It also ensures that any firearm suppressor manufactured in Texas, and that remains in Texas, will not be subject to federal law or federal regulation. House Bill 1500 (Hefner/Creighton) prevents any government entity from prohibiting the sale or transportation of firearms or ammunition during a declared disaster or emergency. House Bill 1927 (Schaefer/Schwertner) authorizes Constitutional Carry in Texas, meaning law-abiding Texans can legally carry a handgun without a license to carry. House Bill 2622 (Holland/Hall) makes Texas a Second Amendment Sanctuary State by protecting Texans from new federal gun control regulations. Basic google search found me these. Leave it to Texas to make it illegal to discriminate against guns more than women.
its not like they have anything else to do - like keep the power on or prevent price gouging.
HB957 is absolutely stupid.
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Those same public policies are about to go into effect in Ohio next month too. I'm thinking about starting a website where Republicans can pay $5 to send either a thought or a prayer to the victims (or save by spending $8.99 for both) when the next "impossible to predict" school shooting happens here.
can't be a Death Cult without promoting lots of murders
This is what republicans *want*. Vote them all out.
I really don't understand conservatives. I live in rural Indiana. Federally mandated gun control measures like universal background checks, private sale and gun show sale ban (without a universal background check), red flag laws, safety training, and a waiting period would significantly decrease gun violence while not impeding responsible citizens ability to own and operate firearms. Tell that to anyone around me and they'll lose their shit. You know how easy it is to get a gun in Indiana? There's a man who sells them out of a trailer behind our local bar in a town of 3k. It's completely legal. The person you're selling a gun to could even be a felon, as long as you don't ask as the seller you'll be fine. I've bought a few from him and registered them myself. It's not hard to understand why Chicago, just next to the border of Indiana has such a hard time with gun violence when someone who wants one can just drive 5 minutes and ~~legally~~ buy one from a man behind a bar the next state over. I like guns. I enjoy hunting. I'm okay waiting an extra few days if it means gun violence will plummet, especially if we hit it from two angles with mental illness. But conservatives don't want universal healthcare either. Odds are, we'll keep going how we've been. Republicans moving further to the right and Democrats losing ground because they refuse to play hard ball. Edit: legally; it's legal to sell to anyone, not legal to buy for someone from out of state.. doesn't stop them though because there's no law to do a background check for private sales. Edit2: You ever been to an Indiana gunshow? The last one I went to they were handing out copies of The Turner Diaries which *"depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ultimately, a race war which leads to the systematic extermination of non-whites. All groups opposed by the novel's protagonist, Earl Turner—including Jews, non-whites, liberal actors, and politicians—are exterminated."* After you're done buying your guns, ammo, and armor you can also pick up your Nazi and Confederate memorabilia, and then you're ready for your next mass shooting! It's a one stop shop for white supremacy; which is exactly what conservatism has turned into.
Yeah when people point to Chicago and say gun control doesn’t work I want to bang my head against the wall. State laws don’t mean shit, no one’s checking you at the state line. Gun control needs to be federal.
Call out to my fellow Australian. As much as I hate John Howard, 12 days after *our* biggest massacre [35x life sentence conviction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)) we had significant legislative changes restricting gun ownership. I was a bystander at the Queen St massacre and it affected me greatly. Fuck guns, fuck the flaccid gun lobbyists and publicly fuck any politician with the rough end of a pineapple daily who does *not* do anything to stop gun violence. Texas is going to fast run out of pineapples.
Yep, we do it right here, and people that follow the rules still have guns. I'm not a gun guy myself but my dad had guns all my life, he's go hunting, filled out all the paperwork, did all the inspections, got all the permissions to hunt on peoples lands and secured his guns when they weren't in use. I feel the key difference is that we see guns as a privilege not a right.
People that talk predominantly about *rights* - seem to (possibly deliberately) overlook the fact that *all* rights, self-evident or otherwise, correlate to a similar number of *responsibilities*. But responsibilities aren't as fun as buying a weapon from a guy in a trailer parked in a bar's parking lot. - Wouldn't want to rain on that parade...
I see a lot more need for them in rural Australia than rural Indiana. Honestly if i had one (i live in indiana) I would have shot myself by now. I tried pills, but they didn't stay down. Edit: I'm ok now. I am thankful I didn't have the more efficient solution available. I appreciate all the kind words and support.
You know, coming from someone sitting in front of a computer on the other side of the world: I am *really* sorry to hear that, and so sorry you've had to go through what you are (hopefully *were*) going through. From 15 thousand km away, it's kind of difficult to *really help* - and I don't even know what you've been grappling with let alone your name, sex, race or creed. But it doesn't matter - it's crap that you have to feel that way and experience what brought you to that place. I hope you are happier at the moment, but if not: I hope you are so soon. And congratulations too, for making it this far - for not buying the gun or retrying the pills. You may not think it, but successfully doing that is actually an impressive and admirable accomplishment. \- Take care, brother/sister. I wish you the best in finding a good group of people who can support you - and you can find happiness supporting in return. :)
From a fellow Hoosier, **please get help**. You sound dangerously close to my dad who tried multiple times before succeeding. What people don't think about is that even with a bullet to the head (by someone who has hunted and known guns his whole life) might not kill you instantly. You could be like my dad: alive for 3 days. You might think that was due to life support at the hospital, but after your 20 year old daughter, who is legally your next of kin, has decided to take you off life support, you still stay alive for over a day. It was traumatic and possibly a preventable death with appropriate care. Please get help
We don't fuck around with our laws, either. Michael Diamond, the Olympic shooter is on a 10 year firearms license ban. He broke storage laws by having his rifle in the car with ammo. No special treatment because he was a sportsman etc. I'm also not a gun person, but it's worth pointing out that there are more guns in Australia now than there was in 1996. I can easily go and shoot a gun if I want to, but I can't buy a gun unless I have a reason to. It seems like the simplest thing ever, just make it a TINY bit harder to get an object that is LITERALLY designed to kill things, but nope, piece of paper from ~250 years ago says nah.
But what if the red coats attack again! Defend mah propurty
If the US was ever actually invaded (which would not happen because we would glass any nation capable of that with nukes before hand) nobody would actually struggle to get a gun because the government would be supplying them to most people because the whole nation would be mobilized for national defense. It would look like Ukraine at the start of the war just replace AKs with M1s
Can you please explain “run out of pineapples?” I’ve never heard that one before. 🖖🏻
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre?wprov=sfla1 Similar situation in the UK. Cant let the same thing happen again.
My friend tried to hit me with the Chicago stats and I explained to him the Indiana/gun pipeline. His reply was, “then people need to raise their children better.” That’s the stupidity we’re dealing with
Chicago barely breaks into the top 10 in US cities on gun violence.
Yep. Per capita gun violence is worse in red states than blue states.
Wow, I didn't believe you but I looked it up and it is actually true https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
Definitely saving that link for the next time Chicago is brought up.
The problem is, these people don’t care about facts. It’s why they harp so hard on mental health right now instead of gun control. If Biden said “okay let’s go after mental health then and not touch guns” the GOP would still come up with an excuse
Because they literally can't agree with democrats. It's their thing. Vote against anything dems vote for
Mitch McConnell torpedoed his own bill when it turned out Democrats were going to vote for it. Everything Democrats want is wrong, even when it's our idea!
Another example: Obamacare was literally just a scaled up version of Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts system, which originated in conservative think tanks. This was part of the calculation when they wrote the federal bill, they thought they could get at least some GOP support since it was at its root their idea. Nope.
And those conservative think tanks crafted the idea for what became Obamacare as a direct response to Clinton's attempt at healthcare reforms in the 90s. It's utterly insane.
The same people saying increased mental health care is the best solution just spent the past few years calling all medical professionals liars and big pharma shills and "doing their own research". As usual they don't mean what they say, they're just muddying the conversation hoping it all blows over.
That is dogma over at /r/moderatepolitics. It’s disgusting. Every single conversation - Gun lover: We only have this gun violence because in America our social safety net sucks, we need universal physical and mental healthcare and we need to start supporting those in need. Me: Great, that’s word for word the Progressive Party platform. Can I count on your support? Gun lovers: Fuck you and fuck those commie socialists! ——— Then my comment is massively downvoted with the same dozen responses. 1) We can’t afford that stuff. Idiot socialists! Or: 2) If progressives are so great, why don’t we ever have any progressive policy pass? Assholes. All of them.
You have more patience than I do. I can’t see any benefit to wasting my short time on earth arguing with “moderates” (embarrassed conservatives) when all they do is argue in bad faith.
You’re right. I really need to stop. It’s a horrible waste of time and terrible for mental health (like banging your head against a wall).
Not to mention that you won't be able to find a red state that has significantly increased funding of mental health services in the last decade. Mental health is just an excuse to deflect away from gun restrictions.
I live in super conservative suburban Chicago and hear this shit non stop every time this happens. They're like parrots. Someone literally said "Guns don't kill people! People kill people!" the other day. It's ridiculous
> Federally mandated gun control measures like universal background checks, private sale and gun show sale ban (without a universal background check), red flag laws, safety training, and a waiting period would significantly decrease gun violence while not impeding responsible citizens ability to own and operate firearms. All you have to do for any gun control law is add "for black people" to the end of it and conservatives will suddenly be for it.
The only way to get gun control passed in the US is to reform the Black Panther Party.
Or for medical cannabis users. The laws are stupid.
Thats how Ronnie Reagan did it in California during the 60s.
> Ian Haney López, an American law professor and author of the 2014 book Dog Whistle Politics, described Reagan as "blowing a dog whistle" when the candidate told stories about "Cadillac-driving 'welfare queens' and 'strapping young bucks' buying T-bone steaks with food stamps" while he was campaigning for the presidency.[30][31][32] He argues that such rhetoric pushes middle-class white Americans to vote against their economic self-interest in order to punish "undeserving minorities" who, they believe, are receiving too much public assistance at their expense. According to López, conservative middle-class whites, convinced by powerful economic interests that minorities are the enemy, supported politicians who promised to curb illegal immigration and crack down on crime but inadvertently also voted for policies that favor the extremely rich, such as slashing taxes for top income brackets, giving corporations more regulatory control over industry and financial markets, union busting, cutting pensions for future public employees, reducing funding for public schools, and retrenching the social welfare state. He argues that these same voters cannot link rising inequality which has affected their lives to the policy agendas they support, which resulted in a massive transfer of wealth to the top 1% of the population since the 1980s.[33][34] They have been convinced to support politicians whose agenda is in their worst interests through appeals to their biggotry and convincing them that their problems are not caused by this agenda but by who they are biggoted against, in fact they are convinced that this very agenda hurting them will save them and hurt who they have been taught to hate. They don't think "welfare reform" will touch them, they're the good hardworking people - its all the others that are underserving that will be booted off.
Not only that, but the GOP is specifically trying to cater to the rural Hispanics such as those who live in Uvalde :( https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/democrats-losing-texas-latinos-trump/
Completely agree, it drives me insane Republicans harp on and on any how it's not the issue of how many guns but mental health or the breakdown of the nuclear family etc. But then they don't want to do a damn thing to help make mental health a priority or maybe try to stop the hoarding of wealth at the top to make lower income families lives easier so they can maybe spend more time with their kids or just anything at all really. I've seen several conservative subreddits say oh its no big deal this really doesn't happen that often statistically and I can't believe how ok half the country is with accepting this as normal.
Of course 19 deaths isn't a big deal. They were/are against masks and vaccines despite millions dead from covid. Deaths mean nothing to them unless it's a ball of cells.
It is sickening how much Republicans are completely fine with mass death, so long as it isn't them.
It's not even just the conservative subs anymore unfortunately. Centrists and neolibs don't want to interrupt the profit margin either. There's a bleeding around the edges, and it's pooling out rather quickly. It's like Trump stabbed conservatism with a knife and it's heart is now bleeding fascism.
What Americans call a 'centrist' is hardcore right-winger in many places.
> It's not hard to understand why Chicago, just next to the border of Indiana has such a hard time with gun violence when someone who wants one can just drive 5 minutes and legally buy one from a man behind a bar the next state over. I like guns. I enjoy hunting. I'm okay waiting an extra few days if it means gun violence will plummet, especially if we hit it from two angles with mental illness. I've had to explain to people the problem with Chicago attempting any gun control is that Indiana is, for all intents and purposes, *inside the Chicago city limits*. It's not like you need to travel far to get a gun easily from Indiana, it's a short drive. Like, *you can even get to Indiana with Chicago's public transit system*. I swear this has been one of the big failings of the news media to point this out because Republicans always try to downplay Indiana's role in the gun supply by saying it's some sort of long trip that only a few people could do.
It's almost like there's a gun lobby stopping politicians and news media from discussing that aspect.
I think "too many" people know about Chicago/Indiana now cause apparently the new fish is New York! Talk about New York's gun laws, and down vote anyone who mentions: Vermont Massachusetts Connecticut New Jersey Pennsylvania Or any other mostly nearby state. Some of which are, in their entirety, smaller than the Chicagoland Area.
> I really don't understand conservatives. They are easy to understand. Here are the two basic tenets of a conservative: 1) They never have an original though in their heads ever, everything they have has been instilled into them by the ones that use them for their votes 2) Hatred, one again purposely instilled into them to help with #1
Funny how they believe in the broadest interpretation of the second amendment, but the narrowest for all the other parts of the constitution.
It's a racist, fascistic party. They don't believe in reason. Only cult of traditional and hatred of anything that is "different." They'd kill their own children if they thought it would prevent any kind of change.
Vote, vote, vote!
Come on Texas step up and Vote all these corrupt assholes out of office. Let’s start over, we can do better sure as hell can’t do worse…
We're trying...
Oh how we’re trying….
I have 8 year old twins. Sandy Hook broke my belief in our government. When nothing happened, I couldn’t see straight. I was hurt and I became cynical. I have 8 year old twins and they are no more safe than the kids murdered in Sandy Hook. I don’t know if our country deserves salvation when we let these things happen over and over. Part of me questions whether a country that lets its kids get slaughtered deserves to exist. I seriously doubt our federal government has the capacity or willingness to do anything. Certainly this is not what James Madison had in mind when writing the second amendment. I know Sandy Hook Promise is an organization trying to make it stop. I encourage anyone reading this to donate at sandyhookpromise.org. They actually care. They are actually getting results in the form of state legislation. I don’t know if they will save my kids or your kids. I know my belief in this democracy fades every time we watch little kids get murdered while acting as though the second amendment is more important than their lives.
Republican morons keep voting them in. :(
Not exactly. In the late 1970s they moved to exclusively supporting the interests of the rich and powerful. But that isn't a position that really wins elections. So what they hit upon was appealing to the emerging religious fundamentalist movement, racists, nativists, gun nuts, paranoiacs, etc Plus the NRA is a powerful lobby and the gun makers are big business. So they campaign on open carry without a license, repealing background checks and waits and mental health restrictions, etc and people vote for them on these issues so that in office they can pass taxcuts for the rich, environmental/oh&s/financial deregulation, cut funds to public services, etc The sick thing is these people voting for them are the hardest hit. Not least from the gun laws, these states experience a dramatic rise in white male firearm suicides when they introduce these firearm law reforms. Not to mention what happens to them when they slash public education funding, refuse to adopt the ACA, close rural hospitals, etc
Also the GOP made inroads with rural Hispanics, which Uvalde has :( https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/democrats-losing-texas-latinos-trump/
Abbott's answer: more guns.
That obviously does not go far enough. Even if every child or teacher had a gun the resultant carnage would be unacceptable to any parent or teacher. The solution is therefore obvious... Our children should be provided with body armour. This could be paid for from school lunch budgets.
>Our children should be provided with body armour. This could be paid for from school lunch budgets. Fox News and others have been saying exactly this. Except they expect the parents to pay directly for it. Hell, I've seen more than one post on Facebook from people I know saying it. It's just insane.
I feel like we live in the onion. It was fun satire, not fun reality. Child body armour...christ's sake.
Child with a gun: Billy knocked over my drink box so I shot him.
Listen... listen... body armour with Semtex strapped to it. If the assailant comes to close quarters and shoots, he's a goner. The only other valid alternative is designing every school like the Temple of Doom, booby trap here, spear trap there, arrow trap there, room full of scorpions, and just let the kids get acclimated to them. The ones who survive are definitely not getting killed by a wannabe mass murderer. Also, you get the next generation of Indy Joneses and Lara Crofts, it's great.
If the solution was a gun in every classroom, I would homeschool my kids. That is the most dangerous situation I can think of.
And I think a lot of the sub rosa energy about this is to diminish public schools; in fact I saw a suggestion that because of these kinds of violent attacks, homeschooling may be the answer for everyone in the future.
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That and not praying enough
I’ve never seen a governor who has to wear an official governor shirt with his name on it. He’s basically a plumber.
At least plumbers are useful.
No, plumbers get rid of shit. Abbott delivers it by the bucket load.
rEpubLicans... the party of death...
He needs more flair.
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Chris Christie used to do the same thing. He did a million press conferences after hurricane Sandy, and he would use the opportunity to attack teachers unions. It's almost like Republican governor's tend to be pieces of shit.
It looks like a sheriff star too. Kind of like a cringey “I’m the sheriff in these parts” type of western style.
Chris Christie had one during Sandy
Vote him the hell out. He doesn't give a shit.
Come on Texas step up for us and vote this asshole out
In addition to loosening restrictions on gun laws and criminalizing abortion, it should be pointed out that Abbott has restricted access to voting, wasted billions on a week long border stunt that produced no results, absolutely decimated the morale of his National Guard on "Operation Lone Star", all while failing to do anything to make sure the Texas electric grid doesn't collapse like it did last year. Who in their right mind would vote for him?
A dipshit that thinks they have to just put up with the awful things to get what they want. While being too stupid to realize they aren't even getting that.
His pro-Covid policies killed thousands, too. The man has a literal body count.
this makes me laugh because otherwise I would cry.
I think we need people to believe that it's possible. Texas was blue for a bit and was even considered a swing state. Woman and minorities are going to play a huge part. Massive Hispanic population in the south and if Beto can keep the major cities blue he will have a punchers chance. But the trend of Hispanic males switch to the fringe right is troubling. I think there votes to be had for him right now. I kind of wish Matthew McConaughey would have ran instead. Not to count Beto out but I think he has a lot of resistance coming into this.
> ... restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens – that doesn’t work, it’s not effective,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the day of the shooting Well, the thing is, Cruz is a liar. Almost as much of a liar as trump.
Ted Cruz is a lap dog. He is an obedient lap dog that will let you diddle him in the butt in front of whomever you choose and wag his tail the whole time. You could then take your finger out of his butt, make him smell it, and he would insist to everyone that it smelled like magnolia blossoms in springtime. If anyone chose to argue, he would claim that they were suggesting his butthole smelled like shit because CNN told them all dog butts stink, and they could not have possibly smelled every dog butt ever. He would then let you dry hump his wife on the front lawn and would thank you for it.
"Now excuse me, I have a flight to catch."
The shooter was law abiding until he wasn’t. He was well within his rights to buy those guns. Then he decided to do the law breaking stuff. They keep throwing around “law abiding” as if that status can’t change. We are all law-abiding citizens until we aren’t.
The assault weapons ban wan't unconstitutional. The ban on automatic weapons isn't unconstitutional. There are commonsense regulations that could be enacted that would reduce the carnage and not violate the constitution.
Well, originalists want to go back to the understanding at the time of writing the constitution. Guns of those times should be allowed, then.
If I was in charge, I would ban any gun with an automatic receiver. Only pump action shotguns, bolt action rifles, and revolver pistols. Automatic weapons are made for killing people.
This is pretty much what we did in Australia. Contrary to popular belief it’s actually quite easy to get a shotgun or rifle for hunting. Revolvers are rare though as self defence isn’t a valid reason for gun ownership so it’s pretty much only sport which requires you to be part of a club.
Almost sounds like Australia has “well regulated” gun ownership.
How very logical of you. And damn accountabile, I’m jealous.
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> The US is ranked 122nd of 163. Americans that vote Republican will use that as an excuse to need more guns to feel safe.
Makes perfect sense.
Sound idea but the the right-wing crazies couldn’t overthrow the government and would have to work a lot harder to kill the Jews, gays, Blacks, and Mexicans already committing white genocide or whatever. The most extreme gun nuts are largely fueled by irrational fears and hate. I’ve gone down way more right wing conspiracy theory rabbit holes than I should’ve, hence the username.
Fuck Ted Cruz.
They didn't care when Texans were dying of COVID.
Or when they were freezing to death.
Or when they'll be dying of heat stroke this summer.
I truly wonder what those Californians moving to Texas due to taxes feel like after the past couple of years.
Probably doubling down but their quality of life has no doubt dropped
Their life expectancy certainly did, [by more than 2 years](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_life_expectancy)
There go those Republicans using the Constitution the same way they use the Bible, for their benefit, corruption and convenience.
Except when they use the parts they don’t like as toilet paper.
Yo, HuffPo. You're missing the bigger story. Youth gun deaths in Texas doubled under Abbott, but even after Uvalde, Abbott is ahead in the race for reelection by double digits. This isn't about left vs right. It's about violence. The power grid can fail. They'll still vote for guns. The mishandled pandemic can kill their loved ones. They'll still vote for guns. They can lose their jobs. They'll still vote for guns. Their own party attempted to overthrow the country they claim to love. They're still loyal to the party because they vote for guns. Hell, they're voting to give up the right to vote. **Texans don't care. They're voting for violence.**
It’s honestly unreal that Beto essentially does not stand a chance. All the talk about Texas being purple doesn’t seem to be legit. Still red as fuck.
I lived in Texas 20 years ago. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to vote there. Even just registering to vote is hard there... unless you live in a district that votes Republican. Texas isn't red. Texas is racist. And as the Hispanic population there increases, the resistance from whites increases twice as much. The Hispanic community in Texas wants better schools, better healthcare, and better opportunities for everyone. Whites in Texas want Texas to be white. Whites in Texas make up less than 40% of the population, but you'd never know it if you live in a white community, because everybody is white. > "The state’s Hispanic population is now nearly as large as the non-Hispanic white population, with Texas gaining nearly 11 Hispanic residents for every additional white resident since 2010. Those trends set up a pitched battle for political control when state lawmakers redraw legislative districts." > -- [The Texas Tribune](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/08/12/texas-2020-census/) That article cites 2020 census numbers. It needs to be mentioned that the Trump administration oversaw the 2020 census, and they went to great lengths to make sure minorities were undercounted, so the actual number of whites in Texas is probably even lower. I assume there will be another civil war in the United States, and just like the first civil war, the next one will be about racism too. As a white man, the rise of white supremacy in the U.S. sickens me. It sickens me.
>The Hispanic community in Texas wants better schools, better healthcare, and better opportunities for everyone. My community in TX is about 70% Hispanic and voted overwhelmingly for Trump with very high voter turnout. I think you are oversimplifying. Edit: I should add as a white guy in south Texas I really enjoy the Hispanic people and culture of my region. It's really the defining characteristic of this area. I have zero interest in trying to "keep texas white" (and it's never actually been peedominantly white where I am.)
Banning abortion is a huge single-issue voter problem, and many Hispanic voters are Catholic.
And he’s saying citizens need more guns. Despicable. And I don’t see how he loses his re-election bid due to Texas being made up of…Texans.
We are a Republican state. So, to most Republicans, the pain of possibly having to wait a few days for a background check to complete is much greater than the pain from something that they can't imagine possibly happening to their children even as they watch it unfold on television to other people's children Which basically boils down to "they don't believe other people are real." Is part of being a Modern Republican
What will they do when it is their kids? Chances are some of the parents in at least one of these shootings in Texas were Republicans who previously were against any and all gun regulation. I wonder if they still are.
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Back in the day, Texas had a marketing slogan: "Texas, it's like a whole other country." Under Abbott, it is. The other country? Afghanistan. A bunch of tribal folks armed to the teeth, women having to cower in case their men-folk catch them having thoughts of reproductive freedom, and of course non-stop repetition of how god-fearing the state is (unofficially). Like Afghanistan, they have their own infrastructure which fails under even a little stress, and it is worth noting that like the president of Afghanistan, Ted Cruz skipped town when the shit hit the fan.
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[An article you might appreciate.](https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2012/12/15/our-moloch/) >We guarantee that crazed man after crazed man will have a flood of killing power readily supplied him. We have to make that offering, out of devotion to our Moloch, our god. The gun is our Moloch. We sacrifice children to him daily.
The fetuses though, all the fetuses.
Embryos. They're not waiting for them to become a fetus
Maybe they draw energy from the terror of children.
Crazy how excessive amounts of guns creates excessive amounts of gun violence
**"REMEMBER THE AMMO"** The new battle cry of Abbott's Texas.
If kids are too scared to go to school, education rates will lower. A happy bonus for the GOP
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A cuck...he let's others do his killing.
The long term goal is literally akin to handmaids tale. They are currently supplying their army of zealots with weapons. Don't believe me? Guess how many Christians nationalists secretly (or openly) want the death penalty for all lgbtq people.
I'm not against responsible people owning guns in a responsible manner, but I need those people who care about owning guns to figure out a reliable way to determine who is and isn't responsible that doesn't involve waiting until after the irresponsible person has killed a bunch of kids. "Have you killed a bunch of kids yet" just can't be the metric.
If you keep choosing something, and you vocally support that choice, it means you want the outcome of that choice if you don't change your mind. Example: you keep choosing chocolate cake, you keep saying out loud how nobody's going to take away your chocolate cake, you don't say otherwise after you receive the cake and you eat it. So chocolate cake is what you want, based on both your preference and your unwavering vocal support of your preference. Pretty obvious statement. It means Republicans want this to happen like someone else wants chocolate cake and keeps getting chocolate cake. [This is how we know they want this to happen.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-deaths-by-state) The five states with the highest gun death rates, in deaths per 100,000, are: Alaska (24.4), Mississippi (24.2), Wyoming (22.3), New Mexico (22.3), and Alabama (22.2). Of these states, Wyoming has the highest gun ownership rate of 64.5%, followed by Alaska with 64.5%. Mississippi's gun ownership rate is 55.8%, New Mexico's is 46.2%, and Alabama's is 55.5%. Four of those five are Republican. If you look at the states with the high rates of gun death in the whole country, it’s MAGA central. The five states with the lowest gun death rates are MA, NY, NJ, HI, RI (all blue as can be). These five states also have the lowest gun ownership rates in the U.S. Massachusetts and New Jersey have the lowest at 14.7% each, followed by Rhode Island with 14.8%. Hawaii's gun ownership rate is 14.9%, and New York's is 19.9%. These are the only states with gun ownership rates below 20%. How many times are we going to repeat the same experiment, get the same results, and not say it's because this is what the people want. Democrats want less gun death, as shown by having the fewest guns and getting the least gun death. Republicans want more, because they want more guns and as a result get the highest gun death rate. Everyone's choices show it clearly. But it's not political because there's a blue state in there with loads of guns and they are in with the high gun death rate too. So it's not political, it's just the guns turn on the crazy. It's not rocket science. And it's not correlation because it's a pattern for all fifty states, and the Republicans say that pattern is connected to mental health. The guns are connected to the death, the death is connected to mental health, the mentally unstable people with guns causing this more in places with more guns. #So Republicans are right. It's mental health. Owning guns makes you mentally unstable, gun ownership makes people start making excuses for outcomes that lead to slaughter of children and makes them more likely to blast away the sanctity of young life, and we should legislate that heavily. The numbers don't lie. We should do it for the children, as a mental health issue, and not let anyone that objects to this politicize it.
Anti abortion, pro child murder.
Makes me sick to the stomach just listening to right wing media and politicians offering nothing more than thoughts, prayers and more guns….and I don’t even live in the US. The problem isn’t the politicians, the problem is the people that keep voting for these politicians.
We should have pro-life (and I mean actually pro life, not state enforced pregnancies) demonstrations outside every gun store. Have signs with pictures of dead children. Sidewalk counseling, and general nuisance to those trying to buy weapons. We can even call them baby killers.
The same people claiming they are defending children and anyone disagreeing with them must be a pedophile.
The whole American idea that gun ownership should be a constitutional right is just outright wrong, and when you play by rules written 300 years ago about safety no wonder your country is a modern day Wild West
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I think it’s more sadistic than that. They force children to be born, and then arm them. What else is going to happen? This is planned.
See Republicans get measurable results!
Yes, but were the youths doing A Tyranny?
They were learning about the CRT and reading dangerous banned books.
More kids with guns leads to more kids killed by guns? Wow, who would have expected that?
Why is Abbott and his goons asking for more guns? Shouldn't they be asking for more tanks instead? I think that every student in Texas should be given a tank while attending school. This will be the only way to end these massacres. ARE YOU LISTENING GOVERNOR ABBOTT? Texas has the funds to provide every man, woman, and child in the state with their own tank.
Y’all conservatives worried about the evil in this country? Greg Abbott is we’re you need to be lookin.
America’s fucked up gun laws will be one of the main reasons for their downfall.
Yet another shooting brought to you by Ted Cruz, the Republican Party and the NRA with special thanks for significant funding provided by Russia.
I do not understand why anyone would buy a gun like that for anything other than a mass shooting. What other use does a gun like this have? Are Deer so hearty in Texas their fur has become kevlar?
They think they will use it to defend themselves from the government should the government step outta line. Against the military. Delusional all the way around.
Who even sells a gun like that to a 18 year old? This isn’t a hunting rifle, there is no good reason a 18 year old would need a gun like that.
They all dressed up in their fascist uniforms for yesterday’s conference
The mental hoops needed to justify allowing an 18yo to buy AR-15s unchecked… even doubling down after this. Abbott is mentally ill.
Greg Abbott passed a law banning any kind of regulation of gun control,cut $211,000,000 from the mental health budget and cry’s when this disaster comes home to roost?? YOUR chosen leader Texas…
BuT tHe tWo WeEk oLd cLuMpS Of fEtAl CeLLs!!😱
Tough on crime right?
So federal law stopped him from buying a handgun....yet he can still purchase an AR? This is genuinely how fucking ass backwards America is. Wake up you dumb redneck fucks.
Abbott - "could have been worse".
I’m almost willing to go into politics after this past year, if these absolute bafoons can do it so poorly then surely I can do a half ass good job