Repost from The Federalist.
At a press conference Wednesday in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott almost said something profound. Almost.
Asked by reporters about gun laws in Texas, Abbott responded by talking about the need for more “mental health-resources” — a catch-all term often bandied about by Republican politicians in the wake of mass shootings like the one in Uvalde, in which 19 elementary school kids and two teachers were killed by a deeply disturbed 18-year-old.
Abbott, though, began going in a different direction with his response. He noted that 18-year-olds have been able to buy rifles in Texas for more than 60 years, and then asked: “Why is it that the majority of those 60 years we did not have school shootings and we do now?”
But then he stopped short, saying, “The reality is I do not know the answer to that question.”
Maybe Abbott really doesn’t know. Maybe it’s too much to expect an unimaginative politician like him to delve into the myriad forces of social and cultural decay that produce 18-year-old mass murderers. Maybe he was just trying to deflect questions from a hostile press corps.