“WE’VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING”

The majority of those rooftop demands, hailing in from every single town in this country, and loudest from those of Buffalo and Uvalde—have fallen on deaf ears before.

Only months later and the rooftop chants would begin to merely float through today’s chaos of media and politics, like soft, nagging echoes.

But it appears the tide is FINALLY turning on that front, at least it’s pointed in the right direction.

As you’ll see throughout this article, the Texas Tribune did a phenomenal job covering events leading up to, and after the Uvalde shooting.

Texas Tribune - “U.S. senators reach deal on gun legislation in aftermath of Uvalde shooting”

The tentative deal, for which Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas was the lead negotiator, includes a mix of modest gun control proposals and funding for mental health. It would incentivize states to pass “red flag” laws, which are designed to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others; boost funding for mental health services, telehealth resources and more school security; permit

“It does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction,” he said. “With bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay. Let’s get this done.”

Cornyn, who touts an A-plus rating from the National Rifle Association, on Sunday seemed eager to defend the package from any potential conservative pushback. On Twitter, he accepted an invitation to appear on the radio show of conservative commentator Dana Loesch, a former NRA spokesperson who is opposed to red flag laws, to discuss the proposal. He also seemed to suggest that the measure might have prevented the Uvalde shooting.

“Enhanced background check of juvenile court, police, and mental health records likely would have disclosed what everyone in the community knew,” he wrote. “The shooter was a ticking time bomb.”

By leaving the issue of red flag laws to the state, the senators made it unlikely that one would go into effect in Texas. juvenile records to be incorporated into background checks for purchasers under the age of 21; and crack down on the straw purchase and trafficking of guns.

Buffalo, Sandy Hook, Parkland, San Bernardino, Thousand Oaks, Las Vegas, Orlando, El Paso, Sutherland Springs, Columbine, Aurora, Pittsburgh welcome them to the club, all as Philadelphia’s South Street shooting hangs heavy and frustratingly so on our hearts, and we, as an entire country come together… to do nothing at all.

Again.

Are we really at this pathetic of a standstill that, for the hundreth, horrific time, will no action be taken to stop this trend?

Democrats want stronger background checks to prevent those with heinous intentions from getting their hands on deadly weapons in the first place. Republicans want more guns in schools/everywhere to protect students/teachers from these horrific events. “Only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

Can you still buy AR’s in Texas on your 18th birthday?

Would the enhanced background checks be thorough enough to potentially prevent the newly legal, Uvalde shooter’s purchase of any kind of firearm—let alone two fucking assault rifles that were used to lay waste to children?

Can we take other measures to protect our schools, including arming and equipping a properly trained school resource officer?

AT THIS POINT, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING

More importantly, I’m well aware that saying, “AT THIS POINT” is simply insane because “POINT” has already come and gone so many horrific times in both our schools and our communities and affected so many lives. Yet we’ve continued to DO NOTHING like it’s unnecessary, this SOMETHING.

So why not both?

Are we really at this pathetic of a standstill because neither side will give an inch in order to prevent more school shootings and mass shootings as a whole?

How do you look at that chart and continue to say “we need to take action,” then proceed to do nothing?

We’ll obviously start with what the whatever the bullshit hold up is with background checks, and what is actually entailed in that process first. We will not begin with the argument that we need MORE guns in school because clearly that argument is a horrifically weak one and make zero difference in this PARTICULAR elementary school massacre. Further, try making that argument to the faces of those Texas families.

To say, “No, we don’t need more background checks. We just needed more guns in your children’s school.”

After a deranged 18-year-old bought an assault rifle one day after his 18th birthday, and shot up their kid’s elementary school within a week. All the while police, armed to the teeth, laid in wait. Do I think that would happen again? A fully-armed and well-trained police force arguing with parents rather than engaging the shooter. I pray to god not.

From The Texas Tribune

“He legally purchased two AR platform rifles from a federally licensed gun store on two days: May 17 — just a day after his birthday — and May 20, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said, according to a briefing that state Sen. John Whitmire, chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, received from state authorities late Tuesday. The gunman bought 375 rounds of 5.56-caliber ammunition on May 18.”

From The New York Times

Children called for help from inside classrooms in Uvalde. The police waited.

She [a fourth-grader] whispered to a 911 operator, just after noon, that she was in the classroom with the gunman. She called back again. And again. “Please send the police now,” she begged. But they were already there, waiting in a school hallway just outside. And they had been there for more than an hour.

The police officers held off as they listened to sporadic gunfire from behind the door, ordered by the commander at the scene not to rush the pair of connected classrooms where the gunman had locked himself inside and begun shooting shortly after 11:30 a.m.

“It was the wrong decision, period,” the director of the state police, Steven C. McCraw, said on Friday after reading from the transcripts of children’s calls to 911 and from a timeline of the police inaction during nearly 90 minutes of horror at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.”

From BBC News

“The gunman roamed outside the Uvalde school for 12 minutes before entering unchallenged, police said on Thursday.

That contradicted earlier statements which said the attacker had been confronted and shot at by an officer.

He killed 19 children and two teachers before he was shot dead 90 minutes after he arrived, police said.

That delay, combined with video footage showing frustrated parents being tackled and handcuffed by police while the gunman was still inside the school, has led to growing public anger and scrutiny of the early response.

It has also called into question claims by state Governor Greg Abbott, who earlier this week hailed the "quick response" of "valiant local officials" who he said had engaged the gunman before he entered the school. "They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire," he said.”

That’s also 3 separate visits to a federally licensed gun store in 3 days, and nothing raised an eyebrow? Did these arms dealers grill him even a little bit? Did NOTHING seem off? Or did they hype him up, upgrade his initial gun selection and tell him how badass he looked with an assault rifle in his hands? We’ll probably never know, but you can be sure there’s footage of the purchase that will probably never see the light of day.

What even goes into a background check, in Texas or elsewhere, if a violently-inclined 18 year-old, who’s sending creepy IG messages to random people, can buy multiple assault rifles and nearly 400 rounds of ammunition within a week of becoming a legal adult?

How is the first step to combatting this horrific problem, NOT adjusting that process right there? How is that not reevaluated and adjusted the very next fucking day? Or is that just crazy talk that disrespects our fantastic, but 250-year-old 2nd Amendment. And why is the argument from Rand Paul on stage at the NRA conference against background checks that Democrats want to confiscate all weapons when there is no such phrasing in H.R. 8.

So let’s look into it. For starters, what specifically is the hold up to expanding background checks. And what will these background check enhancements do to possibly prevent these mass shootings.

H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021

My understanding is that this bill creates an extra step to mandate a background check when an unlicensed dealer sells a firearm by first sending it to a federally-licensed dealer because they are already required to do so. What this does is inherently close the loophole that should have never existed for firearms to be purchased legally without a background check.

The problem here, is that the Texas shooter purchased the firearms from a federally-licensed dealer and I’m not sure this bill makes that process any more difficult. You can read the text here—I don’t see anything specifically discussing how to improve these background checks so that a potential school shooter who has shown signs of dangerous behavior amongst their peers or on social media.

Improving those background checks might be as simple as opening the flagging up to the public so that if a random girl gets a random message from a random school shooter detailing their heinous plans, there’s a quick way to flag the threat in the background check database. At minimum, to extend the background check timeline and get it in front of intentional eyes, and delay the purchase in the process. There are reasons why this would work, why it wouldn’t, and why it would be considered unconstitutional, but it’s probably the one thing that might have actually prevented the Uvlade shooting.

From Congress.gov

“The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun purchase or possession are not able to obtain firearms.”

“This bill establishes new background check requirements for firearm transfers between private parties (i.e., unlicensed individuals).

Specifically, it prohibits a firearm transfer between private parties unless a licensed gun dealer, manufacturer, or importer first takes possession of the firearm to conduct a background check.

The prohibition does not apply to certain firearm transfers or exchanges, such as a gift between spouses in good faith.”

From Giffords Law Center

Background checks identify individuals who are ineligible to purchase firearms and prevent those persons from obtaining them, making them a key element in preventing tragic and unnecessary gun deaths in the United States.1

Enacted in 1993, the Brady Act is a federal law that requires federally licensed firearms dealers (FFLs) to conduct background checks on potential firearm purchasers.2 In order to comply with the Brady Act, the FBI created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a centralized catalog of records comprising three separate national databases. Among other things, NICS contains information about individuals’ criminal and mental health histories and any civil orders entered against them that might affect their eligibility to purchase or possess a gun, such as domestic violence restraining orders. To learn more about NICS and how it is used to conduct background checks, visit our NICS & Reporting Procedures policy page.

How Stuff Works — “H.R. 8 Mandates Gun Background Checks. Why Is It Stuck in the Senate?”

H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, sponsored by California Democrat Rep. Mike Thompson. The bill passed by the U.S. House last March by a narrow 227 to 203 vote, despite getting support from just eight Republican legislators. In the Senate, the bill has languished for months, due to the reality that it stood little chance of passage in the 50-50 chamber, without attracting at least 10 Republican supporters in order to prevent a filibuster by opponents and move to a final vote on the law.

Senate Democrats indicated the odds against them, they nevertheless were hoping to put the bill on the legislative calendar, with the aim of forcing a vote sometime after the Memorial Day holiday, according to Roll Call.

If that plan comes to fruition, another gun control bill passed by the House, H.R. 1446, which would increase to 10 days the time a purchaser must wait for a background check, would be put to a vote as well.

The “We Need More Guns” Argument

Despite the fact that this argument is a disgraceful one to make to the Uvalde community after police waited around and refrained parents from running inside to rescue their children, I think this PARTIAL solution could save lives in the future.

One of the early narratives of the story was that the gunman took on, and took down, an armed school resource officer, and that turned out to be false.

From NBC: “Uvalde shooting's evolving narrative: Here are the details police have walked back”

Original Claim: An officer with the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District “engaged” the gunman before he entered the school. - Texas DPS officials, May 25

Now: The gunman wasn’t confronted by a school police officer at all and entered the building unobstructed. - Victor Escalon, the South Texas regional director for the state Department of Public Safety, May 26

There was no school resource officer stationed at the school on May 24, McCraw said Friday. When the officer did arrive at the school, he inadvertently passed the shooter, who was crouched down next to a car.

I don’t think this would happen again. I pray to god, and I don’t pray often, that this would not happen again.

First and foremost, if the resource officer sees him outside, confronts him, and wins the gun fight, this is a very different story. It begins a movement of more and more schools employing armed and trained officers.

The problem with this solution is that it’s entirely up to each school district to make the decision to bring in an armed resource officer to roam the hallways and protect the students & teachers. The second amendment allows U.S. citizens to bear arms but it definitely cannot enforce schools to arm administrators.

So, For Fuck’s Sake, Do Both

Encourage school districts to add a resource officer, and perhaps draft a bill to provide funding for school’s that cannot afford to arm and train a resource officer. The NRA would LOVE that and maybe even allow their puppeted senators to vote on behalf of H.R. 8.

Also expand and improve background checks to the point where they could actually make a difference.

Capiche?

Capiche.

Take some fucking action.