Bay Area Houston

I was a bit disappointed (a bit). As advertised I was hoping to hear from City, County, & State Leaders on school safety and hear them defend their non action on limiting the easy access to assault weapons but that wasn’t what happened. There were no city, county, or state officials in attendance. That was disappointing since they have been in hiding ever since the Uvalde shooting that killed 19 children and 2 teachers.

But, all was not lost. The staff of CCISD did a great job on presenting their Safety Network. I took notes and will highlight the highlights. Since the Santa Fe shooting the district has spent $35 Million on hardening our schools and providing services to students and parents. They have added a total of 45 law enforcement officers to the campuses, created secure vestibules, panic buttons, door hardware for each classroom to secure the doors from inside or out, bus cameras, open door alarms, and security cameras on all campuses.

They discussed their apps available to the students and public called CCISD Alerts which is available for download. Their emergency protocol is consistent across the district no matter what type of emergency is being reported, a shooting, an emergency around the school, or a loose dog roaming the campus. The protocols for lockdowns, sheltering in place, etc as all the same.

I truly believe CCISD is doing the best they can in securing the school facilities given the limitations by our elected officials at the state level, who were not in attendance to explain these limitations. Unfortunately there are holes in the security that should be addressed.

As an example the most security for the campus is a fence that an 18 year old with an assault weapon could shoot through at kids playing at recess, or practicing football, or at band practice. Unlike the school classrooms the campuses are wide open. To compound this situation according to Texas law anyone (including criminals) can walk around in the open with a loaded assault weapon, wearing body armor, with hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large capacity ammo clips, and silencers and there is nothing law enforcement can do about it.

We were told at first there are no limitations on how close a possible shooter could come to the school but later we were told that the limit was 1000 feet if they had a license to carry. On the surface this sound reasonable but….how can you tell if that person has a license? Law enforcement cannot ask for proof of a license. They can only take action if that person breaks the law by threatening someone or shooting. This needs to be clarified. It makes absolutely no sense and should be addressed.

As I have said, I believe CCISD is reacting responsibly to the threats to our schools because of the lack of action by our elected officials on the State level. They are doing the best they can given the situation. It is sad that they have to become security experts just so that our elected officials can protect the rights of an 18 year old to buy assault weapons, body armor, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, large capacity ammo clips, and silencers.

It’s like they want to protect guns and bullets instead of girls and boys.

Greg Abbott is morally crippled. After 19 nine year olds were slaughtered by a gunnut with an AR-15 Abbott has refused to do anything about gun violence or at least try to make it harder for someone to buy a military style weapon, hundreds of rounds of ammo, body armor, and a silencer.

Now according to The Guardian, Abbott’s love for guns and his policy of access to guns has made it easy for Mexican Cartels to arm themselves at the expense of Texas children.

Mexican foreign affairs ministry legal adviser Alejandro Celorio Alcántaraestimates that half a million guns annually are purchased legally in the US and then brought into Mexico illegally. About 70% of guns seized in Mexico from 2014 to 2018 and submitted for tracing had originally come from the US, according to officials with the American bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives (ATF).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/17/texas-lax-gun-laws-us-mexico-border

It is clear that Abbott and the Republican Party will not change their minds about easy access to military weapons even after the El Paso shooting, the Santa Fe shooting, Odessa shooting, the Sutherland Church shooting, and the Uvalde shooting. His love for guns and making money selling them to Cartel members is greater than his love for his own constituents.

The only person more pathetic than Abbott is the person who votes for him.

Well, Abbott found another scapegoat for the Uvalde Massacre. According to the Houston Chronicle:

The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District superintendent, Hal Harrell, announced his retirement on his wife’s Facebook page Monday morning. The announcement comes days after the district suspended operations of its police force and placed a lieutenant and top school official on paid leave.

Abbott has already blamed the 376 law enforcement officers who showed up at the shooting equipped with armor, shields, and weapons and yet stood around listening to children dying instead of doing their jobs. Many of them will now lose those jobs. Many might be having nightmares thinking of the sounds of kids dying. Many of them need to go to hell for what they did, along with Greg Abbott.

Instead of placing blame on Abbott and his NRA party for allowing a law abiding 18 year olds to have easy access to assault weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, body armor, and silencers they just simply rolled over. That law abiding 18 year old went on to kills 19 children and 2 teachers.

The Superintendent and law enforcement know better. They know that easy access to guns was the root cause of this massacre but they seem to be ok with rolling over, losing their jobs, and losing their dignity just so an 18 year old can buy weapons.

Was it worth it?

Parents of the children killed in the Uvalde shooting are not giving up and are demanding accountability for all the good guys with a gun who stood in the hallway afraid of the 18 year old bad guy with a gun killing kids. From the San Antonio Express:

The parents and family of Robb Elementary school shooting victims Jackie Cazares and Uziyah Garcia are currently sitting outside the Uvalde CISD administration building in protest of what parents are calling inaction from the school board. 

I can’t imagine what the parents are going through. Many of us will not forget Uvalde. Or Santa Fe, El Paso, Odessa, Sutherland or any mass shooting under Greg Abbott’s watch. Unfortunately most Texans and all republican elected officials have moved on. They have provided thoughts and prayers. They have passed legislation to protect guns and bullets instead of protecting girls and boys. The Houston Texans wore Uvalde stickers on their helmets. That was the least they could do. Literally. The Houston Astros gave away tickets to a game to wash their hands of the massacre. Everyone has moved on.

Except for the parents. They are demanding accountability from those who allowed their kids to die. In November voters will have the opportunity to stand with Uvalde, besides just wearing a goddamn “Uvalde Strong” t-shirt, and hold those accountable that provided easy access to the weapons used in the mass shootings in Texas.

Unfortunately Texas republicans are cowards and will not call for action and take on the NRA. We will see if Texas voters are cowards in November.

It isn’t getting any better for the Harris County Republican Party. With gas prices falling, consumer confidence rising, unemployment at record low levels, the economy is recovering from COVID, inflation on the way down, women angry about government overreach into their uterus, electricity prices skyrocketing, streets are flooded with guns, the party is grasping for a message. One of those has just been shot down.

Harris County, under an agreement with the federal government in 2017, ushered in bail reform for misdemeanor cases. Needless to say the MAGAt Republicans jumped on this like a 18 year old at a raffle for an AR15 assault rifle claiming it would increase crime. It didn’t. According to a study documented by The Texas Standard:

Now, new research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice indicates Harris County’s bail policies do not compromise public safety.

In the words of Rick Perry, Oops. The Houston Chronicle has more on this subject. The scare tactics by the Republican Party are nothing but scare tactics. It’s all they have at this point. Facts do not matter to them. Neither do studies. But the facts remain crime statistics are on the decline even though Abbott has flooded the streets with uncontrolled gun access putting our police on high alert.

Maybe the republicans might want to look at their record over the last 20 years before shooting their mouths and feet off.