While the families gathered together in Uvalde, Texas, to grieve their murdered children, Republican politicians continue to claim the incident is not political—the same politicians who refuse to acknowledge that their votes and policies are responsible for thousands of gun deaths in this nation. But as my mother used to say: “Denial. It ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
Wednesday night, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and his right-hand lap dog, Sen. Ted Cruz, joined the grieving Uvalde community. But Cruz appeared stunned when a Sky News crew confronted him about his pitiful stance on reforming gun legislation.
"There are 19 sets of parents who are never going to get to kiss their child goodnight again,” Cruz told Sky News reporter Mark Stone. But when Stone asked him about gun laws, Cruz tried to hold it together amidst the growing tension and responded with, “You know, it's easy to go to politics." Stone kept up the pressure on Cruz, saying, “It’s important … it’s at the heart of the issue.”
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Cruz then switched into attack mode, saying that the issue of gun reform is “where the media likes to go.” Stone answered Cruz saying, “It’s not. It’s where many of the people we’ve talked to here like to go.”
"The proposals from Democrats and the media? Inevitably, when some violent psychopath murders people,” Cruz alleged.
But Stone quickly pointed out that this time of mass shooting is caused by a “violent psychopath who’s able to get a weapon so easily,” and reminded Cruz that the shooting in Uvalde that killed 21, including 19 children, was committed by “an 18-year-old with two AR-15s.”
Cruz’s answer? “If you want to stop violent crime, the proposals the Democrats have? None of them would have stopped this.”
So Stone followed up with the most obvious question: “Why does this only happen in your country? I really think that’s what many people around the world just … cannot fathom. Why only in America? Why is this American exceptionalism so awful?”
"You know, I'm sorry you think American exceptionalism is awful,” Cruz responded. “You've got your political agenda. God love you," he replied and started to make a run for it.
There were 27 school shootings in 2022 leading to injuries or deaths, NPR reports. According to a database from Education Week, there’ve been 119 school shootings since 2018.
Stone continued to pursue Cruz as he attempted to skitter away, slamming him again and again with, “Why is this just an American problem?” and, “You can't answer that, can you?”
Cruz finally turned to Stone, angry and exasperated, and said: "Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it's the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist."
Just after the school shooting happened, Cruz told MSNBC that he thought the best solution to mass shootings was “armed enforcement on the campus,” accusing “Democrats and a lot of folks in the media” of trying to use these mass killings to “restrict the Constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.”
But we know how Cruz’s bread is buttered: by the gun lobby. Cruz received $176,274 from the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 2019. In 2015, Cruz was so enamored with guns that he took time out of his busy schedule to make a video about cooking bacon on a machine gun—the same AR-15 assault-style rifle used by 18-year-old Salvador Ramos to slaughter the 19 children and two adults Cruz said he and his wife were ”fervently lifting up in prayer” just days ago.
Defending the Second Amendment is the Republicans’ go-to move. But when asked why they care more about protecting guns and banning abortions than giving a shit about actual live humans, they’re left babbling.
Wednesday, Texas Rep. James White gave an interview to CNN where he adamantly defended the Constitution and deflected with the old “it’s not the guns, it’s the people” shtick.
“We’ve all seen how quickly and creatively Texas—your local legislature—can act when it wants to, say, protect the unborn embryo. Why not act with that alacrity to protect living, breathing 10-year-olds in this school behind me?” CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked White. “Use that same blueprint you use for your abortion laws,” Camerota added.
White immediately jumped into the protection of the Second Amendment and blamed shootings on people with mental health issues.
“What we really need to be looking at is—whether it’s in Buffalo, whether it’s in Uvalde—is these young men, for some reason, that have some very disturbed emotional state,” White responded. “We need to look at our mental health system.”
CNN host Victor Blackwell quickly slammed White’s rhetoric, telling him that even Abbott himself has said that Ramos has no known mental health issues.
