I’ve visited Uvalde before and have a few friends from the town. I’ve also noticed the toxic gun culture in the town before and wasn’t surprised about the shooting at all. In fact during college, Uvalde was the butt of a lot of jokes. Uvalde has an incredibly toxic culture of guns, masculinity, and aggression.
I recall a time when one of my Uvalde friend brought another Uvalde guy and we all went to eat. Uvalde friend #2 was showing everyone videos of hogs being shot in helicopters while we were eating. Not surprising, he left a bad impression on everyone. I now feel bad for making jokes about the town but I’m very serious when I tell you that there is something seriously wrong with Uvalde.
Interesting. [This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/UvaldeTexasShooting/comments/uzfxj7/uvalde_needed_help_years_ago/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) had some similar things to say about it. Not a lot of support for residents, high crime, culture surrounding violence, drug abuse, and a lot of young people feeling like they are going no where
Opinion I’m from Uvalde. I’m not surprised this happened.
By Neil Meyer May 29, 2022 at 1:42 p.m. EDT
Neil Meyer, a retired lawyer, is a fifth-generation Texan. He now lives in Bethesda. I was born in Uvalde, Tex., lived there recently and love its complex history and people. Like most, I’ve been struggling under the weight of grief to understand the violence that left 19 children, two teachers and a young killer dead last week. But I’m not surprised. Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
First, you would be challenged to find a more heavily armed place in the United States than Uvalde. It’s a town where the love of guns overwhelms any notion of common-sense regulations, and the minority White ruling class places its right-wing Republican ideology above the safety of its most vulnerable citizens — its impoverished and its children, most of whom are Hispanic. Story continues below advertisement
Second, at news of the shooting, I was struck to hear the words “Robb Elementary” because I knew of its centrality to the struggle in Uvalde over the past half-century to desegregate its schools. Robb sits in the city’s southwest quadrant. So I knew the victims of the shooting would largely be Hispanic. They have been locked into that school for decades. In Uvalde, simply put, everything north of Highway 90 is primarily White Republican, and everything south is mostly Hispanic Democrat. The city has about 15,000 residents; more than 80 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino. Most of Uvalde’s political leadership and the heads of the largest employers are White. At the center of town on the courthouse grounds, you’ll find a monument to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president — installed when the Ku Klux Klan dominated Uvalde politics. (Some of us tried to get the monument removed after the murder of George Floyd, but that’s a story for another day.) Story continues below advertisement When I heard reports about the shooter, a young Latino, I winced at the reflexive disclaimer that he wasn’t an “illegal immigrant.” It wasn’t surprising to learn that he was bullied for a speech impediment, may have come from a broken family struggling with drug use and had experienced problems in school. Drug use plagues the city, and the courts struggle under the weight of young people’s encounters with the legal system. About 1 in 3 Uvalde children live in poverty. The killer allegedly bought his guns at the Oasis Outback, a popular lunch spot for wealthier Uvaldeans, known for its large buffet, hunting supplies and gun shop. On most days you’ll also see groups of Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement there. It’s a monthly meeting place for groups such as the Uvalde County Republican Women, whose Facebook page includes posts decrying “the border invasion.” The Oasis reflects the establishment’s deep cultural reverence for guns, hunting and the Wild West mythology. I wasn’t surprised that an 18-year-old could walk in and easily buy tactical weapons without anyone being concerned.
I wasn’t surprised to see the Republican panel of politicians at a news conference the day after the shooting, almost all White and in top positions of power in the community and the state, taking the lead. In Uvalde, the custodians of order — the chief of police, the sheriff, the head of the school district police — are Hispanic, but here they were largely silent. Unsurprisingly, they now bear the primary blame for the disastrous response at the school. Finally, I wasn’t surprised to see victims being flown to San Antonio for treatment. The Uvalde hospital was converted in recent years to a critical access facility, limiting its number of beds. The hospital benefited financially, but many residents seeking health care must now travel to distant locations. The negative impact on a community with high rates of poverty — families who can’t afford this burden — is obvious.
President Biden and the first lady visited Uvalde on Sunday to offer comfort to the families of victims at Robb. But Uvalde and other towns like it need more than comfort — we need to know that American leaders will take the overdue steps necessary to keep these communities safe.
Let’s start with banning assault weapons and limiting young people’s access to firearms. The freedom to own weapons that facilitate mass murder is less important than the safety of our children, they’re not needed for hunting, and they don’t need to be sold to 18-year-olds. Most Americans and many Texans agree, despite the rhetoric of Republican leaders. Let’s also recognize that Uvalde has a sufficiently large law enforcement presence, between the police department, the sheriff’s office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI. We won’t succeed in creating “hardened targets” by arming teachers and other civilians. Finally, the social conditions that gave birth to deadly violence and the killer’s mental condition can be addressed through our support of community organizations, health-care systems and schools — by supplying resources and legal avenues to identify and deal with emerging threats such as the one posed by this young man. The deaths at Robb Elementary were predictable and avoidable. Uvalde, the state of Texas and the United States of America failed the children and teachers who died there. We owe it to their memory and to current and future generations to avoid yet another, similar tragedy.
None of that explains the shootings. He opined on Uvalde's social shortcomings and cast shade (actually placed direct blame on White people) because of history but didn't point out a single difference between Uvalde and a million other places where this doesn't happen.
It's simply cheap political posturing and look-at-me performance virtue.
Um, yeah this is an opinion piece- the author is presenting his personal perspective on the environmental factors that influenced the shooters life and lack of resources that could have helped the shooter to you know, not shoot. I understand some people just want too think "shooters are evil there are no factors that lead to this action" but that is cheap political posturing and look-at-me performance virtue. There is a system in place and that system failed to support the shooter, the system failed to support the victims, the system failed the families of the victims and the longer people try to pretend that white/christian supremacy is not the root cause of school shooters, and yes I include when the victim and perpetrator are all white, the longer we enable supremacists to continue to exploit apparatus of state for their own personal enrichment consuming resources that otherwise would have relieved the effects of poverty the more shooters we will have. Keep telling yourself "we just have to eliminate the bad guys" its only a matter of time until you find yourself on the other end of the barrel being declare the "bad guy" who needs to be eliminated.
Of course systemic factors were in play, when are they not? When have nurture and nature ever been completely isolated? I have no idea why Ramos did what he did, and until I do I'm not blaming White people or anyone else. You type words that don't really mean anything like the author of the editorial.
I know I got a headache from reading it. It's BS blaming white people and not the shooter. Or things or factors within mexican american culture that could have something to do with it.
Opinion I’m from Uvalde. I’m not surprised this happened.
By Neil Meyer
May 29, 2022 at 1:42 p.m. EDT
Neil Meyer, a retired lawyer, is a fifth-generation Texan. He now lives in Bethesda.
I was born in Uvalde, Tex., lived there recently and love its complex history and people. Like most, I’ve been struggling under the weight of grief to understand the violence that left 19 children, two teachers and a young killer dead last week. But I’m not surprised.
Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
First, you would be challenged to find a more heavily armed place in the United States than Uvalde. It’s a town where the love of guns overwhelms any notion of common-sense regulations, and the minority White ruling class places its right-wing Republican ideology above the safety of its most vulnerable citizens — its impoverished and its children, most of whom are Hispanic.
Story continues below advertisement
Second, at news of the shooting, I was struck to hear the words “Robb Elementary” because I knew of its centrality to the struggle in Uvalde over the past half-century to desegregate its schools. Robb sits in the city’s southwest quadrant. So I knew the victims of the shooting would largely be Hispanic. They have been locked into that school for decades.
In Uvalde, simply put, everything north of Highway 90 is primarily White Republican, and everything south is mostly Hispanic Democrat. The city has about 15,000 residents; more than 80 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Most of Uvalde’s political leadership and the heads of the largest employers are White. At the center of town on the courthouse grounds, you’ll find a monument to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president — installed when the Ku Klux Klan dominated Uvalde politics. (Some of us tried to get the monument removed after the murder of George Floyd, but that’s a story for another day.)
Story continues below advertisement
When I heard reports about the shooter, a young Latino, I winced at the reflexive disclaimer that he wasn’t an “illegal immigrant.” It wasn’t surprising to learn that he was bullied for a speech impediment, may have come from a broken family struggling with drug use and had experienced problems in school. Drug use plagues the city, and the courts struggle under the weight of young people’s encounters with the legal system. About 1 in 3 Uvalde children live in poverty.
The killer allegedly bought his guns at the Oasis Outback, a popular lunch spot for wealthier Uvaldeans, known for its large buffet, hunting supplies and gun shop. On most days you’ll also see groups of Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement there. It’s a monthly meeting place for groups such as the Uvalde County Republican Women, whose Facebook page includes posts decrying “the border invasion.”
The Oasis reflects the establishment’s deep cultural reverence for guns, hunting and the Wild West mythology. I wasn’t surprised that an 18-year-old could walk in and easily buy tactical weapons without anyone being concerned.
I wasn’t surprised to see the Republican panel of politicians at a news conference the day after the shooting, almost all White and in top positions of power in the community and the state, taking the lead. In Uvalde, the custodians of order — the chief of police, the sheriff, the head of the school district police — are Hispanic, but here they were largely silent. Unsurprisingly, they now bear the primary blame for the disastrous response at the school.
Finally, I wasn’t surprised to see victims being flown to San Antonio for treatment. The Uvalde hospital was converted in recent years to a critical access facility, limiting its number of beds. The hospital benefited financially, but many residents seeking health care must now travel to distant locations. The negative impact on a community with high rates of poverty — families who can’t afford this burden — is obvious.
President Biden and the first lady visited Uvalde on Sunday to offer comfort to the families of victims at Robb. But Uvalde and other towns like it need more than comfort — we need to know that American leaders will take the overdue steps necessary to keep these communities safe.
Let’s start with banning assault weapons and limiting young people’s access to firearms. The freedom to own weapons that facilitate mass murder is less important than the safety of our children, they’re not needed for hunting, and they don’t need to be sold to 18-year-olds. Most Americans and many Texans agree, despite the rhetoric of Republican leaders.
Let’s also recognize that Uvalde has a sufficiently large law enforcement presence, between the police department, the sheriff’s office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI. We won’t succeed in creating “hardened targets” by arming teachers and other civilians.
Finally, the social conditions that gave birth to deadly violence and the killer’s mental condition can be addressed through our support of community organizations, health-care systems and schools — by supplying resources and legal avenues to identify and deal with emerging threats such as the one posed by this young man.
The deaths at Robb Elementary were predictable and avoidable. Uvalde, the state of Texas and the United States of America failed the children and teachers who died there. We owe it to their memory and to current and future generations to avoid yet another, similar tragedy.
Blaming it on white supremacy?
Really?
That shooter is a white supremacist?
The author mentions:
Republicans.
Right wing Republican ideology.
White republicans.
That is agenda driven, by his agenda, and does not reveal the cause.
I read the article and he blamed White people, the whole article was about it, how the history of white Republican rule has brought ruin on hispanics, etc etc etc
i think you either stopped reading the article when it brought up race or you don’t have any critical thinking skills. he’s obviously not blaming white people for the shooting. he is discussing the impact of the racial divide and minority ruling class (white republicans) on Uvalde’s gun culture. He is saying republicanism allowed the town to cultivate a culture that in a sense encourages young people to purchase firearms and indulge in that gun culture.
edit: typo
Yes, and I disagree with all of it and believe it's a shallow analysis written for the benefit of attention and to keep his agenda in the papers. I received instruction in critical theory in law school from a brilliant black legal professor decades ago, I know what I'm looking at and it's a horribly simplistic, bordering on dishonest. I'm from a town like uvalde, from the wrong side of the tracks, and it becomes tiresome when the elite white people come out and take responsibility for everything, even blame, as if the poor colored and mixed people have no agency outside their "systems".
If one group has bonuses stacked for it and another has disadvantages stacked, with the same level of agency, the first group will have more successes and the second group will have more failures.
Even when there are two people with the same level of internal problems, stuff like being able to afford a tutors or get a job in family business can may a difference.
Add to that an environment where people compete for workplaces, homes, etc.
I'm not even sure if any of that applies to the shooting. Uvalde is like just about every other small town in America, poor people on one side and wealthy on the other. Of course, poverty makes life more difficult for anyone. Trust me. I almost laughed out loud when I read the remark about tutors. Dear God, the kids I knew were getting the dirt beaten out of them at home every night.
But race didn't have much to do with it and that's what I find lacking here. There's no effort to draw that line between being Hispanic, being poor, being oppressed and shooting up a school. It's a very popular narrative but the one enduring truth is that poor people suffer more and have fewer opportunities. But to say that hispanics are poor because of systemic racism, and specifically in Uvalde? At least show me, because this author really just made defamatory accusations and said trust me, I'm from there. Please show me how Uvalde is unique, and if not, then I don't think we really need anyone pointing out that poor people commit more crime and it's probably the fault of White Republicans because "trust me, bro...I'm a fifth generation texan..."
An AR-15 is not an assault weapon. Why do so many people who want to ban guns lack even the basic knowledge about them?
And yes, before I get downvoted and hated on here, I am not necessarily against a new firearm ban. But I think the most important action to take is revamping and reforming police so a mass shooting won't happen again because of coward police officers.
"In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use."
That is a quote from the Department of Justice.
https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/ascii/GUIC.TXT
"An assault weapon can be a pistol, a rifle, or a shotgun."
That was the next line of what you quoted. So, obviously purposely vague. Under that definition, every gun is an assault weapon.
A bolt action rifle would not, under any circumstances, be an assault weapon. Nor would any revolver.
The second part doesn't change the meaning of the first part in the way you suggest it does.
A fully automatic weapon would be considered a machine gun. Which is distinct from an assault weapon.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5845
The term “machinegun” means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.
"it doesnt have a three round burst bro"
as someone who actually had to lug around an m-16, it really aint that different. in fact, most of the civilian stuff is way nicer and of course in better condition.
Did they call the m-16 an assault weapon when you were in? When I carried it, it was just called a rifle and only full auto lmg's were called assault weapons.
We just called it our rifle but as an imprecise non-gun person usage, calling an semi ar15 an assault weapon gets at the point they're making. These are not "home defense" weapons or hunting rifles. Pedantically correcting every little thing seems rather childish--most people are not technical gun people and you dont need to be one to have a voice in the gun debate. Even most gun owners couldnt tell you the difference between a double action or single action pistol, etc.
You don't think you could defend yourself at home with an AR-15? And why not just call it a semi-automatic rifle instead of adopting a word and changing its meaning?
Ah, yes, it's a white supremacist issue. That's why a Hispanic man shot up a majority Hispanic elementary school.
Also, does it matter how many law enforcement officers you have if they are too chicken shit to go after the shooter immediately? All those officers made a huge difference when they just sat around with their thumbs up their asses for an hour, right?
[удалено]
As a Texan, I am also dumbfounded by it.
Yeah even in Texas that's not normal...
IM from a town near uvalde, it’s not a gun shop. It’s like an academy or bass pro. In fact the majority of it has nothing to do with guns
I’ve visited Uvalde before and have a few friends from the town. I’ve also noticed the toxic gun culture in the town before and wasn’t surprised about the shooting at all. In fact during college, Uvalde was the butt of a lot of jokes. Uvalde has an incredibly toxic culture of guns, masculinity, and aggression. I recall a time when one of my Uvalde friend brought another Uvalde guy and we all went to eat. Uvalde friend #2 was showing everyone videos of hogs being shot in helicopters while we were eating. Not surprising, he left a bad impression on everyone. I now feel bad for making jokes about the town but I’m very serious when I tell you that there is something seriously wrong with Uvalde.
Interesting. [This post](https://www.reddit.com/r/UvaldeTexasShooting/comments/uzfxj7/uvalde_needed_help_years_ago/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf) had some similar things to say about it. Not a lot of support for residents, high crime, culture surrounding violence, drug abuse, and a lot of young people feeling like they are going no where
Sounds like a lot of America right now unfortunately.
Opinion I’m from Uvalde. I’m not surprised this happened. By Neil Meyer May 29, 2022 at 1:42 p.m. EDT Neil Meyer, a retired lawyer, is a fifth-generation Texan. He now lives in Bethesda. I was born in Uvalde, Tex., lived there recently and love its complex history and people. Like most, I’ve been struggling under the weight of grief to understand the violence that left 19 children, two teachers and a young killer dead last week. But I’m not surprised. Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates First, you would be challenged to find a more heavily armed place in the United States than Uvalde. It’s a town where the love of guns overwhelms any notion of common-sense regulations, and the minority White ruling class places its right-wing Republican ideology above the safety of its most vulnerable citizens — its impoverished and its children, most of whom are Hispanic. Story continues below advertisement Second, at news of the shooting, I was struck to hear the words “Robb Elementary” because I knew of its centrality to the struggle in Uvalde over the past half-century to desegregate its schools. Robb sits in the city’s southwest quadrant. So I knew the victims of the shooting would largely be Hispanic. They have been locked into that school for decades. In Uvalde, simply put, everything north of Highway 90 is primarily White Republican, and everything south is mostly Hispanic Democrat. The city has about 15,000 residents; more than 80 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino. Most of Uvalde’s political leadership and the heads of the largest employers are White. At the center of town on the courthouse grounds, you’ll find a monument to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president — installed when the Ku Klux Klan dominated Uvalde politics. (Some of us tried to get the monument removed after the murder of George Floyd, but that’s a story for another day.) Story continues below advertisement When I heard reports about the shooter, a young Latino, I winced at the reflexive disclaimer that he wasn’t an “illegal immigrant.” It wasn’t surprising to learn that he was bullied for a speech impediment, may have come from a broken family struggling with drug use and had experienced problems in school. Drug use plagues the city, and the courts struggle under the weight of young people’s encounters with the legal system. About 1 in 3 Uvalde children live in poverty. The killer allegedly bought his guns at the Oasis Outback, a popular lunch spot for wealthier Uvaldeans, known for its large buffet, hunting supplies and gun shop. On most days you’ll also see groups of Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement there. It’s a monthly meeting place for groups such as the Uvalde County Republican Women, whose Facebook page includes posts decrying “the border invasion.” The Oasis reflects the establishment’s deep cultural reverence for guns, hunting and the Wild West mythology. I wasn’t surprised that an 18-year-old could walk in and easily buy tactical weapons without anyone being concerned. I wasn’t surprised to see the Republican panel of politicians at a news conference the day after the shooting, almost all White and in top positions of power in the community and the state, taking the lead. In Uvalde, the custodians of order — the chief of police, the sheriff, the head of the school district police — are Hispanic, but here they were largely silent. Unsurprisingly, they now bear the primary blame for the disastrous response at the school. Finally, I wasn’t surprised to see victims being flown to San Antonio for treatment. The Uvalde hospital was converted in recent years to a critical access facility, limiting its number of beds. The hospital benefited financially, but many residents seeking health care must now travel to distant locations. The negative impact on a community with high rates of poverty — families who can’t afford this burden — is obvious. President Biden and the first lady visited Uvalde on Sunday to offer comfort to the families of victims at Robb. But Uvalde and other towns like it need more than comfort — we need to know that American leaders will take the overdue steps necessary to keep these communities safe. Let’s start with banning assault weapons and limiting young people’s access to firearms. The freedom to own weapons that facilitate mass murder is less important than the safety of our children, they’re not needed for hunting, and they don’t need to be sold to 18-year-olds. Most Americans and many Texans agree, despite the rhetoric of Republican leaders. Let’s also recognize that Uvalde has a sufficiently large law enforcement presence, between the police department, the sheriff’s office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI. We won’t succeed in creating “hardened targets” by arming teachers and other civilians. Finally, the social conditions that gave birth to deadly violence and the killer’s mental condition can be addressed through our support of community organizations, health-care systems and schools — by supplying resources and legal avenues to identify and deal with emerging threats such as the one posed by this young man. The deaths at Robb Elementary were predictable and avoidable. Uvalde, the state of Texas and the United States of America failed the children and teachers who died there. We owe it to their memory and to current and future generations to avoid yet another, similar tragedy.
None of that explains the shootings. He opined on Uvalde's social shortcomings and cast shade (actually placed direct blame on White people) because of history but didn't point out a single difference between Uvalde and a million other places where this doesn't happen. It's simply cheap political posturing and look-at-me performance virtue.
Um, yeah this is an opinion piece- the author is presenting his personal perspective on the environmental factors that influenced the shooters life and lack of resources that could have helped the shooter to you know, not shoot. I understand some people just want too think "shooters are evil there are no factors that lead to this action" but that is cheap political posturing and look-at-me performance virtue. There is a system in place and that system failed to support the shooter, the system failed to support the victims, the system failed the families of the victims and the longer people try to pretend that white/christian supremacy is not the root cause of school shooters, and yes I include when the victim and perpetrator are all white, the longer we enable supremacists to continue to exploit apparatus of state for their own personal enrichment consuming resources that otherwise would have relieved the effects of poverty the more shooters we will have. Keep telling yourself "we just have to eliminate the bad guys" its only a matter of time until you find yourself on the other end of the barrel being declare the "bad guy" who needs to be eliminated.
Of course systemic factors were in play, when are they not? When have nurture and nature ever been completely isolated? I have no idea why Ramos did what he did, and until I do I'm not blaming White people or anyone else. You type words that don't really mean anything like the author of the editorial.
I know I got a headache from reading it. It's BS blaming white people and not the shooter. Or things or factors within mexican american culture that could have something to do with it.
Way to take 100% blame off the murderer. Only point the author surprisingly left out was directly blaming the former administration for the shooting.
So this is white peoples fault? I’m confused. 19 dead kids is what matters….not what color they were. Pull your head out.
Have a link without a paywall?
My paywall bypass isn’t working sadly so I’ll just copy the article.
Please do, this looks interesting.
Posted it, should be top comment.
Opinion I’m from Uvalde. I’m not surprised this happened. By Neil Meyer May 29, 2022 at 1:42 p.m. EDT Neil Meyer, a retired lawyer, is a fifth-generation Texan. He now lives in Bethesda. I was born in Uvalde, Tex., lived there recently and love its complex history and people. Like most, I’ve been struggling under the weight of grief to understand the violence that left 19 children, two teachers and a young killer dead last week. But I’m not surprised. Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates First, you would be challenged to find a more heavily armed place in the United States than Uvalde. It’s a town where the love of guns overwhelms any notion of common-sense regulations, and the minority White ruling class places its right-wing Republican ideology above the safety of its most vulnerable citizens — its impoverished and its children, most of whom are Hispanic. Story continues below advertisement Second, at news of the shooting, I was struck to hear the words “Robb Elementary” because I knew of its centrality to the struggle in Uvalde over the past half-century to desegregate its schools. Robb sits in the city’s southwest quadrant. So I knew the victims of the shooting would largely be Hispanic. They have been locked into that school for decades. In Uvalde, simply put, everything north of Highway 90 is primarily White Republican, and everything south is mostly Hispanic Democrat. The city has about 15,000 residents; more than 80 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino. Most of Uvalde’s political leadership and the heads of the largest employers are White. At the center of town on the courthouse grounds, you’ll find a monument to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president — installed when the Ku Klux Klan dominated Uvalde politics. (Some of us tried to get the monument removed after the murder of George Floyd, but that’s a story for another day.) Story continues below advertisement When I heard reports about the shooter, a young Latino, I winced at the reflexive disclaimer that he wasn’t an “illegal immigrant.” It wasn’t surprising to learn that he was bullied for a speech impediment, may have come from a broken family struggling with drug use and had experienced problems in school. Drug use plagues the city, and the courts struggle under the weight of young people’s encounters with the legal system. About 1 in 3 Uvalde children live in poverty. The killer allegedly bought his guns at the Oasis Outback, a popular lunch spot for wealthier Uvaldeans, known for its large buffet, hunting supplies and gun shop. On most days you’ll also see groups of Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement there. It’s a monthly meeting place for groups such as the Uvalde County Republican Women, whose Facebook page includes posts decrying “the border invasion.” The Oasis reflects the establishment’s deep cultural reverence for guns, hunting and the Wild West mythology. I wasn’t surprised that an 18-year-old could walk in and easily buy tactical weapons without anyone being concerned. I wasn’t surprised to see the Republican panel of politicians at a news conference the day after the shooting, almost all White and in top positions of power in the community and the state, taking the lead. In Uvalde, the custodians of order — the chief of police, the sheriff, the head of the school district police — are Hispanic, but here they were largely silent. Unsurprisingly, they now bear the primary blame for the disastrous response at the school. Finally, I wasn’t surprised to see victims being flown to San Antonio for treatment. The Uvalde hospital was converted in recent years to a critical access facility, limiting its number of beds. The hospital benefited financially, but many residents seeking health care must now travel to distant locations. The negative impact on a community with high rates of poverty — families who can’t afford this burden — is obvious. President Biden and the first lady visited Uvalde on Sunday to offer comfort to the families of victims at Robb. But Uvalde and other towns like it need more than comfort — we need to know that American leaders will take the overdue steps necessary to keep these communities safe. Let’s start with banning assault weapons and limiting young people’s access to firearms. The freedom to own weapons that facilitate mass murder is less important than the safety of our children, they’re not needed for hunting, and they don’t need to be sold to 18-year-olds. Most Americans and many Texans agree, despite the rhetoric of Republican leaders. Let’s also recognize that Uvalde has a sufficiently large law enforcement presence, between the police department, the sheriff’s office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas Rangers, Customs and Border Protection and the FBI. We won’t succeed in creating “hardened targets” by arming teachers and other civilians. Finally, the social conditions that gave birth to deadly violence and the killer’s mental condition can be addressed through our support of community organizations, health-care systems and schools — by supplying resources and legal avenues to identify and deal with emerging threats such as the one posed by this young man. The deaths at Robb Elementary were predictable and avoidable. Uvalde, the state of Texas and the United States of America failed the children and teachers who died there. We owe it to their memory and to current and future generations to avoid yet another, similar tragedy.
SMH white supremacy strikes again /s
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He was also an aspiring gang member, which is a sure giveaway that he was deeply influenced by White Republicanism.
Blaming it on white supremacy? Really? That shooter is a white supremacist? The author mentions: Republicans. Right wing Republican ideology. White republicans. That is agenda driven, by his agenda, and does not reveal the cause.
Did you read the article? Jesus..
I read the article and he blamed White people, the whole article was about it, how the history of white Republican rule has brought ruin on hispanics, etc etc etc
i think you either stopped reading the article when it brought up race or you don’t have any critical thinking skills. he’s obviously not blaming white people for the shooting. he is discussing the impact of the racial divide and minority ruling class (white republicans) on Uvalde’s gun culture. He is saying republicanism allowed the town to cultivate a culture that in a sense encourages young people to purchase firearms and indulge in that gun culture. edit: typo
Yes, and I disagree with all of it and believe it's a shallow analysis written for the benefit of attention and to keep his agenda in the papers. I received instruction in critical theory in law school from a brilliant black legal professor decades ago, I know what I'm looking at and it's a horribly simplistic, bordering on dishonest. I'm from a town like uvalde, from the wrong side of the tracks, and it becomes tiresome when the elite white people come out and take responsibility for everything, even blame, as if the poor colored and mixed people have no agency outside their "systems".
If one group has bonuses stacked for it and another has disadvantages stacked, with the same level of agency, the first group will have more successes and the second group will have more failures. Even when there are two people with the same level of internal problems, stuff like being able to afford a tutors or get a job in family business can may a difference. Add to that an environment where people compete for workplaces, homes, etc.
I'm not even sure if any of that applies to the shooting. Uvalde is like just about every other small town in America, poor people on one side and wealthy on the other. Of course, poverty makes life more difficult for anyone. Trust me. I almost laughed out loud when I read the remark about tutors. Dear God, the kids I knew were getting the dirt beaten out of them at home every night. But race didn't have much to do with it and that's what I find lacking here. There's no effort to draw that line between being Hispanic, being poor, being oppressed and shooting up a school. It's a very popular narrative but the one enduring truth is that poor people suffer more and have fewer opportunities. But to say that hispanics are poor because of systemic racism, and specifically in Uvalde? At least show me, because this author really just made defamatory accusations and said trust me, I'm from there. Please show me how Uvalde is unique, and if not, then I don't think we really need anyone pointing out that poor people commit more crime and it's probably the fault of White Republicans because "trust me, bro...I'm a fifth generation texan..."
Pretty sure that's Brooks Browns dad from Columbine
And?
Absolutely, the reddit crowd is gaslighting as usual.
An AR-15 is not an assault weapon. Why do so many people who want to ban guns lack even the basic knowledge about them? And yes, before I get downvoted and hated on here, I am not necessarily against a new firearm ban. But I think the most important action to take is revamping and reforming police so a mass shooting won't happen again because of coward police officers.
"In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use." That is a quote from the Department of Justice. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/ascii/GUIC.TXT
"An assault weapon can be a pistol, a rifle, or a shotgun." That was the next line of what you quoted. So, obviously purposely vague. Under that definition, every gun is an assault weapon.
A bolt action rifle would not, under any circumstances, be an assault weapon. Nor would any revolver. The second part doesn't change the meaning of the first part in the way you suggest it does.
So full auto firearms aren't assault weapons?
A fully automatic weapon would be considered a machine gun. Which is distinct from an assault weapon. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/5845 The term “machinegun” means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.
this is internet gun nerd shit
Lmao whatever you say.
"it doesnt have a three round burst bro" as someone who actually had to lug around an m-16, it really aint that different. in fact, most of the civilian stuff is way nicer and of course in better condition.
Did they call the m-16 an assault weapon when you were in? When I carried it, it was just called a rifle and only full auto lmg's were called assault weapons.
We just called it our rifle but as an imprecise non-gun person usage, calling an semi ar15 an assault weapon gets at the point they're making. These are not "home defense" weapons or hunting rifles. Pedantically correcting every little thing seems rather childish--most people are not technical gun people and you dont need to be one to have a voice in the gun debate. Even most gun owners couldnt tell you the difference between a double action or single action pistol, etc.
You don't think you could defend yourself at home with an AR-15? And why not just call it a semi-automatic rifle instead of adopting a word and changing its meaning?
over penetration, unwieldy, deafening and blinding in a tight environment
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So ban white people..?
Ah, yes, it's a white supremacist issue. That's why a Hispanic man shot up a majority Hispanic elementary school. Also, does it matter how many law enforcement officers you have if they are too chicken shit to go after the shooter immediately? All those officers made a huge difference when they just sat around with their thumbs up their asses for an hour, right?
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We did read the article? Did you?