Texas is a leader in mass shootings. Why is Governor Greg Abbott silent?

Texas is a leader in mass shootings. Why is Governor Greg Abbott silent?

Richard Parker writes:

If leadership could be rated from one to 10, Mr. Abbott’s would be a zero. The names of dead, wounded and shattered Texans on his watch, are etched across the state: Dallas, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe, El Paso and now Odessa.

He has never had the guts to do more than mouth a few platitudes while paying obeisance to the gun lobby and the state’s admittedly historic gun culture. In 2015, he even tweeted: “I’m EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let’s pick up the pace Texans. @NRA.”


In Austin, a group of about 20 legislators is demanding — fruitlessly — that the governor convene a special session to actually do, well, anything. As it meets only every other year, the Legislature is adjourned — until 2021. One lawmaker, Democratic Representative Victoria Neave of Dallas, wrote the governor demanding a special session after the El Paso massacre. And she did so again after the Odessa killings.

“I think it’s going to take courage for the governor to act and we cannot wait until 2021,” she told me. “The Legislature has failed the people of Texas. Our governor has failed. More roundtables aren’t going to do the job.”

The harsh reality is that the odds are stacked against political courage in Austin. For one, Republicans and Democrats are steeped in a deep gun culture. [Continue reading…]

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