Solano lawmaker expresses outrage after mass shooting at Texas school
More than a dozen elementary school-age children were killed in the latest act of gun violence.
(File photo by Matthew Keys / Solano NewsNet)
Congressman John Garamendi issued a strong rebuke to lawmakers who have blocked federal gun reform measures over the last several years.
His comments came in a series of tweets that followed news out of central Texas, where a gunman opened fire on students and staff members at an elementary school in the small town of Uvalde.
The shooting happened around lunchtime, CBS affiliate KENS-TV (Channel 5) reported. More than 20 people, including 19 children, were killed in the attack. The gunman, identified by ABC affiliate KSAT (Channel 12) as 18-year-old Salvador Romas, was killed by police.
At a news conference, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said Romas carried out the attack with a rifle and a handgun.
“Texans across the state are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime and for the community of Uvalde,” Abbott said in a statement.
It was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in more than a decade. In 2011, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Connecticut.
The Connecticut school shooting triggered a wave of condemnation from lawmakers, some of whom pushed for gun control measures that ultimately went nowhere.
In a series of posts on the social media website Twitter, Garamendi said mere thoughts and prayers were not enough, and that it was beyond time for his fellow lawmakers to act on the epidemic of mass gun violence.
“This issue doesn’t plague any other major developed nation on earth,” Garamendi wrote. “It’s a conscious decision being made by a radical minority of lawmakers who sacrifice the well-being of our children for the well-being of a group of fringe gun lobbyists.”
Any action on gun control could still be a long time coming: In an interview with the Fox News Channel on Tuesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Patton said enacting more laws would not deter criminals from committing mass atrocities.
“We can’t stop bad people from doing bad things,” Patton said. “They’re not going to follow [new] gun laws. I’ve never understood that argument.”
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