Death Toll Rises To 21 In Texas Elementary School Shooting

At this writing, 19 children and 2 adults were killed today after an 18-year-old  gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. According to the New York Times, the shooter, an 18-year-old male local to Uvalde, was dead. Today’s incident is the deadliest school shooting since a gunman killed 17 people and injured another 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. It’s also the second time in two weeks the country has witnessed a mass shooting, after a teenage gunman targeting Black shoppers at a grocery store left 10 people dead in Buffalo, New York. December will mark 10 years since the Sandy Hook school massacre that left six staff members and 20 children dead, some as young as 6 years old. Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat from Connecticut where the Sandy Hook shooting took place, gave these remarks.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) gives an impassioned speech on the Senate floor after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Take five minutes and watch this. pic.twitter.com/im0Mqm6Gqi — The Recount (@therecount) May 24, 2022

And this was the response from Texas’ own Sen. Ted Cruz (R). Please note the difference in tone and emotion.

Ted Cruz proposes armed cops in elementary schools to deter school shootings pic.twitter.com/sJ8B6cf9Xd

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 25, 2022

Trust and believe – lots of conservative politicians who receive political donations from the gun lobby were out issuing their “deepest concerns, thoughts, and prayers.” President Joe Biden addressed the nation this evening, and his emotion was palpable. https://youtu.be/tYiFG_68t5E