On Tuesday, a lone teenager named Salvador Ramos reportedly shot his grandmother, then entered an elementary school, murdering 19 small kids and two teachers.
Police are still investigating Ramos’ motive as parents and the community of Uvalde, Texas reel in shock and horror. Many young kids will never be coming home to their parents again.
This is the deadliest massacre of kids since the 2013 mass murder in at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.
Already, remarking in the aftermath, President Biden ranted about how the “gun lobby” was responsible for what happened, saying gun control needs to happen immediately.
The Left’s Perspective
The left’s perspective is exactly what Biden said in his speech and what liberal neoconservative David Frum wrote recently in the Atlantic.
They regard guns as the reason that America has so many mass shootings and other countries don’t. They also regard the idea there shouldn’t be more restrictions on gun ownership as an ignorant and murderous ideology.
The Uvalde massacre comes only a bit over a week after white supremacist Payton Gendron drove to a black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York to gun down innocent people shopping for groceries.
Senate Leader Chuck Schumer is going to be working hard to get gun control legislation on the Senate floor and being actively passed ahead of the Independence Day break.
Democrats have already been putting out a number of statements about how the lack of serious gun control after Sandy Hook means Republicans and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have blood on their hands.
Other Democrats from more pro-gun states, like Montana, such as Senator Jon Tester, said there must be a way to “protect the Second Amendment” while also “doing something.”
“When are we going to do something?”@warriors coach Steve Kerr gives a passionate plea for gun control after the fatal shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas https://t.co/FGucrx4tqn pic.twitter.com/HnOs3NqDdf
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 25, 2022
What Guns Did Ramos Use?
According to reports, Ramos used a semi-auto AR-15 rifle, a handgun, and large-capacity magazines.
He appears to have sent threatening messages to women on social media prior to the massacre. Investigators also believe he was in some sort of car accident prior to getting out and entering the school to conduct the massacre.
Democrats say his access to weapons is the reason this took place, with some such as Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island denouncing the “goddamned rabid NRA” and the “gun lobby.”
Biden echoed these statements in his own speech, saying America is the only country with mass shootings like this and pleading for an end to the right to buy high-capacity weapons like ARs.
Xavier Lopez, 10. He was a 4th grader at Robb Elementary. His family confirms he died in today’s school shooting. pic.twitter.com/Qp2JatwZ4O
— Dillon Collier (@dilloncollier) May 25, 2022
The Next Step
It’s not currently clear what method of gun control will advance through the Senate, but it’s likely to be in the form of expanded background checks, red flag laws, and magazine regulations.
Will this truly prevent the next mentally ill psychopath from murdering people?
