Sorry, I’m not trying to be obtuse, but is your complaint about Abbott or the article? If Abbot, I think that’s the point of the article. He’s cherry picking to make it sound like there’s no point to any new gun laws and skipping the stats that indicate that a restriction on assault weapons would be exactly the kind of common sense law he doesn’t want people to think about.
If you’re saying the article is cherry picking, I don’t think so. I think it’s shining a light on Abbott’s attempted sleight of hand.
Which itself is a direct kick of the ball back into liberal’s court, with all the prison and legal reforms and changing of law enforcement capabilities to respond and deal with gun crime.
Cutting out things like pretextual stops of vehicles reduces their catching of things like illegal guns. They do that stuff in areas with high crime rates and gun crimes because it is effective at finding guns and drugs.
Pretextual stops are not only unconstitutional. They’re also “functionally” racist.
How 'bout we just just tax the shit out of guns and ammunition? You get a rifle and a shotgun. That’s it.
You pass a stringent background check.
Pass and enforce red flag laws.
Make it a felony to own a hangun.
Restrict ammunition capacity to 3.
That’s if we’re really intent on a solution.
Wait…wot? You’re complaining that mass shootings draw greater attention to the problem of gun violence in general? Really? Why?
(Oh I get it. You make the point that we don’t point to the real problem therefore we don’t perceive the greater problem. If that’s what you think then you are wrong. Hate killing or gang killing…the problem is still availability of firearms.
In support of your comment on the Second Amendment (@tmulcaire):
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Did we all forget that in 2022 Texas made conceal or open carry legal without the need of a license? Which I know is not necessarily the same as making an illegal purchase, but since a gun is a gun is a gun…anyway what’s the difference if one is shot dead by a legally purchased gun or an illegally purchased gun, you’re still dead.
Stephen Paddock, the perpetrator of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, needed four days and concierge service just to get all his guns, ammunition, radios and other gear up to his adjacent rooms in the Mandalay hotel. Mostly he used AR15s.
If Abbot used the pareto principle, the 80-20 principle, he’d understand that almost all his mass shooters will come from the smaller group of , say, gun owners. Of that, a minority owns lots of guns. Of those, a minority is going to ideate a mass killing and even fewer act. It’s irresponsible not to protect society from such individuals. Even in paddock’s case, where the motivation may never be known , simple attention to all that arsenal-building and lugging could have prevented tragedy. Flagging the gun obsessed, not protecting them, is how you save lives.
“It is difficult to get a man person to understand stand up for something when his their salary campaign contributions depends on his them not understanding it sitting down.”
― Upton Sinclair (badly paraphrased)
The article is about legally vs illegally purchased firearms and focuses on Abbott as an example of a right wing office holder saying one thing that is politically convenient and ignoring something that is politically inconvenient. I don’t think it attempts to refute your point. It’s just not the focus of the story.
Having said that, do we know whether the guns used by gangs, drug dealers, etc are mostly purchased legally or illegally? If illegally, how much of that is a result of some sheriffs not enforcing gun laws? Certainly sounds like another worthwhile article.
Walk down any street in Texas and you get the distinct impression that someone is always pointing a gun at you. The paranoia in Texas is so great that just smiling at someone could get you killed.
If Abbott is concerned about illegally possessed weapons, as governor he must do more to stop guns from falling into the wrong hands, why doesn’t he?
He has not been honest from the start about gun violence, but Texans should hold him responsible for doing nothing about it. Instead they reelect him and endure his callous indifference.
