Tuesday's tragedy in Uvalde bared, once again, the sharp political divide between those who see guns as part of the problem— and those who hold the levers ofpower in Texas and see guns as part of the solution.
That divide was evident after an accusedracist shot and killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso on Aug. 3, 2019.
And four weeks later when another gunman, firing as he drove, killed 10 people in Midland and Odessa.
And after a teen killed eight students and two teachers at Santa Fe High School in 2018.
And after a gunman killed 26 people at theFirst Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs in2017.
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Like the latest shootingthat killed 19 students and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, each attackwas met with angry demands from Democrats, civil rights leaders and educators for tightergun laws to better protect Texans from gun violence.
The state'sRepublican leaders and firearmadvocates responded differently, expanding gun rights as essential to self-protectionwhile pointing the finger of blame elsewhere — at society's ills andanti-gun policies in particular.
Theirsolutions tended to focus on a different kind of prevention, and laws were changed to better arm school personnel, expand the presence of police officers, add school counselors and allocate millions of dollars toward "hardening" schools by limiting entrances and erecting other barriers.
Last year, lawmakers ended the need for Texans to obtain a state-issued license to carry concealed or holstered handgunsafter passing a criminal background check and taking a safety course.
As news of the Uvalde attack spread, gun rights advocates returned to familiar themes.
'We can't stop bad people'
Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, appearing Tuesday night on Fox News, said any response to the Uvalde shooting should focus on preventing future acts, but not byrestricting guns.
"We can't stop bad people from doing bad things. (If) they're going to violate murder laws, they're not going to follow gun laws. I've never understood that argument," Paxtonsaid.
"But we can harden these schools. We can create points of access that are difficult to get through. We can potentially arm and prepare and train teachers and other administrators to respond quickly because the realityis wedon't have the resources to have law enforcement at every school," he said.
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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned against efforts "to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime.”
The National Association for Gun Rights blamed the federal Gun Free School Zones Act, saying the 1990 law "equipped evil men to carry out their crimes against helpless people."
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a conservative Republican who presides over the Texas Senate, saidthe latest massacre should renew efforts to harden schools and, more importantly, promote a period of introspection.
"We're a coarse society. We are a society that's just at each others' throats all the time,and we're better than this as a nation," Patrick told Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
"These are crimes that get to the very core of who we are as people,and Ithink as people we have to look internally and (ask), how did we get here?" he said Tuesday. "This was an evil act. There'sa lot that we're going to learn in the days and weeks ahead about this shooter, but tonight we've got to unify in prayer, we have to unify in faith."
Some says Uvalde, Texas school shooting shows 'atotal failure' to protect lives
Those on the other side of the gun debate see the remarks by Paxton, Patrick and Cruz as platitudes intended once again to shirk responsibility and halt action.
"While pouring out their thoughts and prayers for the educators and students who are dead, injured, or trying to make sense of this tragedy, some of our state leaders need to accept a deep dose of culpability for not taking meaningful steps to help prevent these attacks," saidZeph Capo, president of theTexas American Federation of Teachers.
"We don’t need another roundtable of safety experts. We don’t need more active-shooter drills. We need legislation that addresses some of the most basic requirements for ensuring that unstable people don’t take the lives of our children and teachers," Capo said.
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Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez — president ofNextGen America,a progressive advocacy nonprofit and political action committee, and a former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate —said her heart was "completely shattered" by the Uvalde shooting.
"There has been a total failure to protect the lives of young people in this country, and we must hold the GOP accountable for serving the NRA over the American people," she said.
The National Rifle Association is gathering over the Memorial Day weekend in Houston, where Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Cruz were scheduled to speak.
Calls for red flag law, increased background checks after Uvalde school shooting
State Rep.Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, criticized Republican leaders for hitting the expected talking points by calling to arm teachers and harden school buildings.
"Don’t fall for it. We know what we need to doand haven’t tried," Bernal said on Twitter in a push for "common sense gun laws over politics."
But if the state's response to previous mass shootings is anindication, Bernal and similaradvocates can expect to be disappointed in the aftermath of the Uvalde attack.
Before and during the 2019 legislative session, special committees were formed in the state House and Senate to study ways to respond to the shootings at the SantaFe school and Sutherland Springs church.
One proposal was to enact "red flag" protective orders that would allow state judges to remove guns from those shown to be a danger to themselves or others.Abbott had asked lawmakers to look into the idea as part of a 40-point plan in response to the Santa Fe shooting.
Advocates said red flag orders have helped other states prevent gun violence, particularly suicides, in ways that include enough checks and balances to improve safety while protecting individual rights.
More:'This is on you.' Beto confronts Abbott, Cruz at Uvalde school shooting press conference
Gun rights advocates, however,said a red flag law would unnecessarily duplicate existing Texas laws, would do nothing to stop school shootings and would improperly limit the constitutional right to bear arms— and Patrick declared the idea dead on arrival in the Senate before the 2019 session began.
Abbottalso suggested implementing a system of voluntary background checks when private gun owners sell weapons to strangers. Patrick went further, bucking the NRA by calling forbackground checks before any stranger-to-stranger firearms sale, noting that the Midland-Odessa shooter had apparently acquired his rifle in a private sale after having failed a federal background check in 2014.
The Legislature, however, declined to address background checks.
Months after the 2019 legislative session ended, Texas was rocked again by the mass shootings in El Paso and Midland-Odessa. But by the time lawmakers returned toAustin for the 2021 session, Abbott announced a new approach, saying he wanted to make Texas a "Second Amendment sanctuary state."
In addition to a law allowing the permitless carry of handguns, that session ended with laws lettingschool marshals carry concealed guns instead of keeping them locked away, allowinghotel guests to bring guns to their rooms, removingsales taxes for firearm safety equipment, and lifting Texas-made firearm silencers from the state's list of prohibited weapons.
