Beto O'Rourke explains why he confronted Gov. Greg Abbott over Uvalde school mass shooting
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Beto O'Rourke said he sat in the auditorium Wednesday at Uvalde High School intent on just listening as Gov. Greg Abbott spoke about the deadliest school shooting in Texas history.
Abbott, joined on the stage by the state's top GOP political leaders, explained what happened when a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School on Tuesday, May 24.
After Abbott paused at the end of his 19-minute update, O'Rourke stood up and walked to the stage. He said he felt compelled to confront Abbott because he didn't acknowledge why the shooting happened.
"You said this is not predictable," O'Rourke said. "This is totally predictable when you choose not to do anything. ... I'm standing up for the people of the state to stop this from happening again."
O'Rourke was escorted out of the auditorium, but on his way out, he paused again to address Abbott.
"This is on you until you choose to do something different," said O'Rourke, a Democrat who is challenging Abbott in the November election. "This will continue to happen."
The mayor of Uvalde angrily shouted for O'Rourke to leave, even as people in the audience chanted, "Let him speak."
In an interview late Wednesday evening, after meeting with the family of one of the children killed, O'Rourke doubled down on his claim that Abbott refuses to do anything meaningful to reduce mass shootings in Texas.
"The governor today said that this was totally unpredictable," O'Rourke said. "This is the most predictable event in Texas. I can predict this will continue to happen. It'll be some other school, some other Walmart, some other movie theaters, some other church, in some other city until we decide that we've had enough."
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Six mass shootings have occurred in Texas since Abbott was elected governor in 2014. Over 90 Texans, including schoolchildren and people shopping at a grocery store or attending Sunday service, have been killed in mass shootings. Scores have been wounded in the attacks.
The Abbott campaign declined to comment.
While some have accused the former U.S. congressman of staging a political stunt, O'Rourke said he spoke up during the Uvalde briefing because somebody has to stand up for the young victims: 9- and 10-year-old fourth-graders.
"I want these families to know that we're here for them until we find a way to make this better, so that no one ever has to experience what they've experienced," he said.
Parents of Uvalde school shooting victim 'completely devastated'
After being removed from the news conference, O'Rourke spent the rest of the day with the families of victims, including the family of Alithia Ramirez.
"She just barely turned 10 years old," O'Rourke said. "Her birthday balloons were still in the kitchen with enough helium in them that they were on the ceiling. Her artwork in her room was just as she left it, and these parents are completely, completely devastated."
He said a lot of the victims' family members whom he spoke with haven't slept or eaten since their children were killed, and many are left wondering what's going to happen next in their lives.
"There's a profound grief in this community right now," O'Rourke said.
He said survivors of mass shootings and their family members have been contacting him since the tragedy at Uvalde unfolded, asking him when something is going to be done to reduce mass shootings.
He said he spoke with teachers who survived the mass shooting, as well as a doctor who in 2019 was in O'Rourke's hometown of El Paso and tended to patients during the Walmart mass shooting that left 23 people dead.
"She came to Uvalde to practice medicine in an underserved community to help people, and here she's met with this very same trauma that she thought she had left in El Paso," O'Rourke said.
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Beto O'Rourke says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has 'made it worse'
O'Rourke said Abbott has established a pattern of pledging to do something to curb mass shootings and failing to follow through on his promises.
In fact, O'Rourke said Abbott has "made it worse and more likely that people would be killed."
In summer 2021, Abbott signed a slew of bills that led to more lax gun laws in the Lone Star State, he said.
Among those were:
HB 1927, which allows anyone 21 years old and older who can legally possess a firearm in Texas to carry a handgun in public without a permit.
HB 957, which removes firearm suppressors from the list of prohibited weapons in the Texas Penal Code.
HB 1500, which says firearms and ammunition sellers and manufacturers are essential businesses.
HB 2622, which prohibits state and local governments from enforcing new federal gun rules.
Senate Bill 19, which bars government contracts with entities that discriminate against the firearm industry.
SB 20, which prevents hotels from implementing restrictive gun policies.
SB 550, which gives handgun carriers more freedom to choose which holster to wear.
More: Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill to allow Texans to carry handguns without a permit
More: Legislature gives final approval to bill allowing Texans to carry handguns without a permit
O'Rourke said these laws haven't slowed the state's mass shooting epidemic. He urged Texans to support:
Universal background checks
Red flag laws
Safe storage laws
Stop selling AR-15s to 18-year-olds.
"Abbott promised to do something after El Paso, he promised to do something after Midland-Odessa and he promised to do something after Santa Fe High School," O'Rourke said. "Abbott came here today to say he was gonna do something, but he's not going to do anything."
More: Uvalde Justice of the Peace ID'd school shooting victims in town where 'we know everybody'
Anthony Jackson may be reached at ADJackson@elpasotimes.com and @TonyAnjackson on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Beto O'Rourke grieves with families of Uvalde, Texas, school shooting
