Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was confronted by political rival and former U.S. Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke at a Wednesday news briefing, where officials gave details about the mass shooting at a local elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Three adults — including the gunman — and 19 students were killed.
O’Rourke, 49, a former congressman from El Paso, is running a long shot campaign against Abbott, 64, who’s seeking a third term as governor after serving as Texas attorney general.
Abbott took the stage at the auditorium in Uvalde High School, surrounded by state and local Republican officials, including Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. He described how the 18-year-old shooter armed himself with an AR-15-style rifle, but said the problem wasn’t gun control.- ADVERTISEMENT –
“I asked the sheriff and others an open-ended question and got the same answer from the sheriff as well as from the mayor of Uvalde. The question was, what is the problem here? And they were straightforward and emphatic. They said, ‘We have a problem with mental health illness in this community,'” Abbott said, including, “the need for more mental health support in this region.”
Soon after, O’Rourke — seated in the audience — stood up and approached the stage, calling the shooting “totally predictable when you choose not to do anything.”
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin shouted back: “Sir, you’re out of line!”
Sen. Ted Cruz — who bested O’Rourke in his last Senate race — told him to sit down.
O’Rourke continued.
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called O’Rourke “an embarrassment.”
O’Rourke pointed his finger at Abbott.
“This is on you until you choose to do something different. This will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday,” he said before leaving the building.
Abbott dismissed the interruption.
“There are family members who are crying as we speak, there are family members whose hearts are broken, there is no words that anybody shouting can come up here and do anything to heal those broken hearts,” he told the crowd. “… We need to focus not on ourselves and our agendas.”
O’Rourke disagreed and continued speaking outside in the school parking lot about the need for gun control, shouting and railing against AR-15-style rifles as he did after a mass shooting at a Wal-Mart in his native El Paso in 2016, the worst mass shooting targeting Latinos in U.S. history.
“The governor talks about mental health. It is insane that we allow an 18-year-old to go in and buy an AR-15: What the hell did we think he was going to do with that? This one is on us,” he said, speaking first in English, then Spanish. “Now is the time to stop the next shooting.”
O’Rourke cited other mass shootings in the state since El Paso: a church in the central Texas town of Sutherland Springs in 2017; Santa Fe High School outside Houston in 2018 and Midland-Odessa in 2019. He said he talked to victims’ parents in Uvalde, El Paso, Santa Fe and Midland-Odessa.
“We owe those parents action,” he said. “… You want a solution? Stop selling AR-15s in the state of Texas. You want a solution? Have universal background checks. We don’t have them. You want a solution? Red flag laws or extreme risk protection orders which stop a shooting before it happens. You want a solution? Safe [gun] storage laws.”
“We could get that done if we had a governor who cared more about the people of Texas than he does his own political career or his fealty to the NRA,” he said, noting that Abbott is scheduled to speak at the annual NRA convention in Houston at the end of the week.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Beto you are liberal idiot !!!
And he thinks that people want to hear him speak…he should be ashamed that instead of focusing on the grieving families, he started his “gun control” mess instead. That kid could have used a knife instead so would Beto have stared to scream that we need to have “knife control” instead? The Democrats TALK all of this “gun control” mess but they DON’T do anything when there’s bills to help fortify the schools to PREVENT such things from ever happening. I guess if it doesn’t benefit the Dems,(read:$$$ kickbacks) they won’t pass any bills to PROTECT our kids in school.
Hooray to Beto O’Rourke. Wish I still lived in Texas so I could vote for him. Abbot is an idiot and yes, I blame him and his actions for what happened in Uvalde. What a serious waste of skin😡😡
Mark my only question to U then is what should the magical age be to permit legal purchase of weapons? Help me understand. Do U really think an increase in age qualification would change anything? 18 yr old are issued real automatic weapons when they join the military.
This madness has nothing to do with age but rather respect for life which these people are not getting from their family upbringing nor the education system.
More Gun Control will do nothing to stop these types of incidents anymore than the Beto’s delusional ideas of gun confiscation. That’s the reality here.
“Beto” he can’t help it. He’s a piece of dog excrement and won’t pass up an opportunity to campaign.
That’s surely an oxymoron, Satin is more like it! You WOKE-FOLK are delusional useful idiots! You are a fool!
If anyone watched the clip of Beto the Ass interrupting the news conference, Abbott IGNORED him and did the one thing that I’m proud of..he kept his cool and just went on with the news conference. That man has the weight of everything on his shoulders and I will not only pray for the families, but for him as he tries to find a way to comfort the grieving families and help heal the entire community in Uvalde and the State in it’s entirety. This ISN’T the time to draw any attention to yourself and your failed campaign (Beto’s) for your “gun control”, but to help the community and the families in their hour of need. We need to unite as ONE to help them and even ourselves cope with this tragedy. I just pray that we as a state and as a nation will heal from this…
I wonder if any of those folks who oppose any changes (improvements) in gun control laws were personally touched by a mass shooting, would they change their minds? The equivalent of being slapped upside the head with a 2 X 4!
Hell no, another FALSE-FLAG operation , there will be more as I correctly predicted! The demonic psychopaths running this country into the ground are using the WOKE-FOLK as the stooges they are; these NWO-elitists are terrorizing the nation into squealing “UNCLE” and give up their only defense against them and the WOKE-FOLK, dumb as they are, are buying into it and are aiding and abetting in their own demise, hardly wise! WTFU!
I agree with you mostly but why is an 18 year old person allowed to buy a gun period. They have to be 21 to buy liquor. Both can be used to kill ( Drunk driving ).
Mark my only question to U then is what should the magical age be to permit legal purchase of weapons? Help me understand. Do U really think an increase in age qualification would change anything? 18 yr old are issued real automatic weapons when they join the military.
This madness has nothing to do with age but rather respect for life which these people are not getting from their family upbringing nor the education system.
More Gun Control will do nothing to stop these types of incidents anymore than the Beto’s delusional ideas of gun confiscation. That’s the reality here.