May 8, 2023:
An anonymous source told the Associated Press that investigators found social media accounts expressing white supremacist and neo-Nazi views which they believe were used by Garcia.
Garcia wore a patch which reads "RWDS," an acronym for "Right-Wing Death Squad."
Source:
Bleiberg, Jake; Balsamo, Michael; Stengle, Jamie. (May 7, 2023). "Source: Investigators examine ideology of Texas gunman". Associated Press. Retrieved 202e-05-08
Roche, Darragh. (May 8, 2023). "What Is 'Right Wing Death Squad'? Gunman Mauricio Garcia's Patch Explained". Newsweek. Retrieved 2023-05-08
May 7, 2023:
Yesterday afternoon a lone gunman opened fire at the Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen, Texas killing eight people and injuring seven others.
The shooter, 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, was killed by police bringing the total number of people killed to nine.
Garcia wore a tactical vest, carried an AR-15 style rifle, and a handgun. Additional ammunition and weapons were found in his car.
Source:
Burga, Solcyre; Chung, Maya. (May 7, 2023). "What We Know About Texas Mall Shooting That Left 9 Dead, Including Gunman". Time. Retrieved 202e-05-08
Romero, Dennis. (May 6, 2023). "9 dead and 3 in critical condition after mass shooting at Texas outlet mall". NBC News. Retrieved 2023-05-08
President Joe Biden responded to the shooting:
Too many families have empty chairs at their dinner tables. Republican Members of Congress cannot continue to meet this epidemic with a shrug. Tweeted thoughts and prayers are not enough.
Once again I ask Congress to send me a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Enacting universal background checks. Requiring safe storage. Ending immunity for gun manufacturers. I will sign it immediately. We need nothing less to keep our streets safe.
Source:
Sforza, Lauren. (May 7, 2023). "Biden knocks Republicans, calls for assault weapons ban after latest Texas mass shooting". The Hill. Retrieved 2023-05-08
The NRA tweeted:
No organization in the world does more to promote safe and responsible use of firearms than the NRA!
Along with the tweet was a graphic showing what appears to be an AR-15 with the caption "NRA trains 1 million Americans every year."
Source:
Rahman, Khaleda. (May 7, 2023). "NRA's Gun Post Hours After Texas Mall Shooting Sparks Backlash". Newsweek. Retrieved 2023-05-10
Speaking on "Fox News Sunday" with Shannon Bream, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said:
People want a quick solution. The long-term solution here is to address the mental health issue.
One thing that we can observe very easily is that there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of anger and violence that is taking place in America. And what Texas is doing in a big-time way is we are working to address that anger and violence by going to its root cause, which is addressing mental health problems behind it.
Source:
Osborn, Ryan. (May 7, 2023). "Gov. Greg Abbott on Allen mall shooting: Mental health is 'long-term solution' to gun violence". WFAA. Retrieved 2023-05-08
Texas Representative Keith Self, who represents the Texas 3rd Congressional District (which includes Allen) tweeted:
We are devestated (sic) by the tragic news of the shootings that took place at the Allen Premium Outlets today. Our prayers are with the victims and their families and all law enforcement on the scene.
Speaking with CNN anchor Paula Reid, when asked about critics who say that thoughts and prayers aren't enough, Self said:
Well, those are people that don't believe in an almighty God who is absolutely in control of our lives. I'm a Christian. I believe that he is.
When asked about mental health issues Self said:
We have people though with mental health that we're not taking care of. Since this nation made the decision that we were going to close the mental health institutions, many of these situations are based on that.
In response to Self's tweet, Twitter account @iLLtOAD tweeted:
Happening in our state because of you and your party's unwillingness to bring change. You're too worried about who people love instead of the rampant gun problem in our state. Do better.
In response to Self's tweet, Twitter account @bluedotsparkle tweeted:
Your prayers are meaningless without action to PREVENT this from happening. How many more scenes do we need like this? Texas is a free for all with guns and not a single civilian "good guy with a gun" prevented this. More guns aren't working, do something else.
In response to Self's tweet, Twitter account @PoliticTick tweeted:
Your thoughts and prayers will not bring these people back. Republicans refuse to protect us from gun violence. The only option is to vote them out!
Source:
Self, Keith. (May 6, 2023). "Keith Self | Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-05-08
Afshar, Paradise. (May 6, 2023). "Texas lawmaker says critics of prayer as shooting response 'are people that don’t believe in an almighty God'". CNN. Retrieved 2023-05-08
The Dallas Morning News editorial board published an op-ed imploring Governor Abbott to do something about gun violence. Here are selected quotes from the op-ed:
You responded that this was an "unspeakable tragedy." We tell you that it was not unspeakable, and that the people of Texas need you to speak to it and its cause.
There is nothing conservative about refusing to acknowledge evidence or give voice to the true nature of a problem. The people who are dead today are not dead because a twisted and evil soul walked among them. They are dead because that person was able to obtain a weapon so powerful and with such high capacity that even the bravest and fastest response of law enforcement could not save their lives.
That is what you must speak to if you want to truly lead this state. You must speak to the terrible imbalance that you and Republican leaders have created between the individual liberty of nearly unrestricted ownership of the most powerful rifles and guns versus the increasing decline in society's ability to function without constant fear of violent death.
It's too bad that, when given the chance to do so Sunday morning on Fox News, you instead embraced what has become the dodge of the right — focusing on mental health measures. Those are needed. But in a world where mental health struggles are becoming more common, no nation suffers from mass shootings like the U.S. The lack of commonsense controls on gun sales is the reason.
When we recommended you, we did so with reservations and urged you to recognize that "the Second Amendment does not amount to an absolute right to individual ownership of firearms."
This has to stop. You cannot say this is an "unspeakable tragedy" and move on. A leader must have the courage to speak. You must look at this horror, at the devastation wrought on these people, and you must summon the will to act to change the laws that have put us in this terrible place.
Source:
The Dallas Morning News editorial board. (May 6, 2023). "Gov. Abbott, you must act on gun violence". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2023-05-08
Here's some of what progressive commentator Brian Tyler Cohen had to say about this:
This is not to say that mental health does not play a role in mass shootings, but the United States does not have a monopoly on mental health issues. Just like we don't have a monopoly on video games, or doors, or non-nuclear families, or godlessness [other things that conservatives sometimes reference as causes for American gun violence]. But what we do have a monopoly on are guns. We've got half the world's guns right here for just five percent of the world's population. So if you're out there pretending that this isn't a gun problem, then congratulations - you're doing your part to protect the very phenomenon responsible for all this bloodshed.
If that's the principle cause [mental health] of mass shootings, then why hasn't he [Abbott] addressed that issue? Why has Greg Abbott cut more than $200 million from mental health programs over the past two years in just his state alone?
When people like Greg Abbott blame mental health, they're not actually interested in fixing anything anything related to mental health - they're looking for any excuse not to blame the gun. And why do they not want to blame the guns? Because they are paid not to. Texas Republicans have taken over $14 million from gun rights groups, more than any other state...They're not there [in office} to protect their constituents lives, they're there to protect their political careers.
Republicans and their insistence on pandering to the gun lobby and their extremists within their party have enabled a gun violence epidemic in this country.
The reason that America is divided is literally because people like Greg Abbott are allowing Americans to get slaughtered in order to pander to the gun lobby without doing anything to stop it...And let's be perfectly clear here, there will be no unity until and unless the people who's job it is to reduce gun violence stop pandering to the gun manufacturers and start taking steps to keep Americans alive...In fact they're so owned by the gun lobby and the extremists in their party that they're not even willing to listen to the majority of their own party [Cohen then gives polling statistics showing widespread support for common sense gun reforms].
The solution - the only solution - is to vote them out.
If dead kids aren't enough to elicit any kind of change here, then nothing will be. They are immovable. They are bought and paid for. They are owned by the gun lobby.
Our vote is all we have.
So if you doubted how powerful your vote is, just look at the steps they [conservatives] are taking to take that vote away.
According to Verify Cohen's claim that Abbott cut $200 million from mental health programs needs context and it's "unclear" whether money Abbott moved from Health and Human Services to the National Guard affected mental health programs.
Source:
Brian Tyler Cohen. (May 8, 2023). "Texas governor issues DISGUSTING response to tragedy ON AIR". YouTube. Retrieved 2023-05-09
Commentary:
The responses of Greg Abbott and Keith Self shine a huge spotlight on why not much is being done to address gun violence in America.
As long as people like Greg Abbott, Keith Self, and others like them remain in positions of power, mass shootings will continue to be an integral part of American culture.
Abbott said we need a "long-term solution" to the problem of mental health. It's easy and politically expedient to blame mass shootings on mental health issues. We've heard this canned response from conservatives for a long time now. The real question is, what are we doing to prevent mass shootings in the short term?
NO amount of mental health spending is going to have much impact on mass shootings. Why?
Because guns in America, including assault-style weapons, are everywhere and readily available.
Because the proliferation and popularity of social media makes it so easy to connect with and be influenced by extremists.
Do you think that people who commit these heinous crimes are interested in getting mental health help? Do you think they don't get that kind of help because they can't afford it? Do you think they don't get that kind of help because there is no mental health clinic nearby?
They don't get that kind of help because they are completely consumed by whatever is "bugging" them, to the point where they get their "revenge" or administer what they might consider "justice" by killing those they hate and fear. These sick, depraved people most likely don't even recognize they have a mental health problem, so why would they seek help, even if it was available?
Mass murderers don't want help. They are so far "gone" that all they want to do is carry out their agenda and make a statement by going out in a "blaze of glory." And that's why we must, as a society, do everything in our power to keep guns, especially assault-style weapons, out of their hands.
Representative Self's responses are particularly troubling. A Christian, he talks about an "almighty God who is absolutely in control of our lives." If that's the case, then I guess it would explain why so many conservatives are seemingly OK with doing nothing to reduce gun violence in America. If it's all up to God's will and there's always going to be "evil" in this world, then why bother doing anything about it, especially if it's going to infringe on our Second Amendment rights?
For conservatives in positions of political power, the gun lobby (NRA and others) dictates what measures those conservatives will and will not support. For those conservatives, their political careers depend on campaign contributions from the gun lobby.
So, regarding conservatives, when you add up their fear of the government taking away their gun rights and possibly even all their guns, their belief that "God's will" prevails, the "it's a mental health issue" mindset, and the power of the gun lobby, it's clear to see why nothing of consequence gets done on gun control.
Common sense gun legislation is the best we can do to help reduce gun violence in America. And to do that, we must vote out of office those who let the Second Amendment, the gun lobby, or God get in the way.
As sad as this is our schools and students are going from stressed to numb to burnout. My 14 year old daughter has almost monthly partial lockdowns due to unspecified threats which include all of New Mexico. This creates a false cry wolf syndrome that may lessen readiness when there is an active shooter drama. She rolls her eyes when we ask her about her most recent lockdown.
Yesterday a friend left a cafe when another patron was openly carrying and posturing in a grandiose way that made sure everyone knew he was armed. Who would challenge that? So he left, as did others.
I’ve worked with a shockingly large number of people who firmly believe they are safe and complete when they have their AR-15 style weapon(s) and are now invincible.