In wake of the Uvalde school shooting, Texas Republicans have expressed renewed interest in programs already in place to arm teachers as state Democrats call for more gun control.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said he doesn’t believe passing new gun laws will deter criminals, and believes the answer is to make schools hard targets for killers.
“We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things. They’re going to violate murder laws. They’re not going to follow gun laws – I’ve never understood that argument,” Paxton told Fox News.
“We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly—because the reality is we don’t have the resources to have law enforcement at every school,” he added.
Paxton was responding to the May 24 mass shooting in Uvalde, home to a small, rural Texas school district where a teen gunman slipped through an open door and killed 19 children and two teachers.
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke, is demanding action from Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Anyone can call for a committee. Only a governor can call a special session. Do your job,” O’Rourke said on Twitter. O’Rourke went so far as to interrupt Abbott’s press conference on the Uvalde school shooting last week. “This is on you,” he said.
Like Paxton, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said restrictive gun laws won’t stop criminals.
“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,” Cruz told MSNBC. “That doesn’t work.”
Abbott said Wednesday in a statement Texas must reassess the twin issues of school safety and mass violence, but ruled out gun control legislation. He called on Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, (R) the State Senate’s presiding officer, to form committees examining previous legislation and resources available to schools.
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