The parents of Uvalde, who lost their children in a terrible elementary school shooting, have been let down time and time again.
It’s becoming more and more obvious that the federal and state systems failed these parents by failing to protect their children from an 18-year-old who had legally purchased a powerful rifle and killed them in their classroom.
This was a basic governing duty that the federal and state systems failed to perform.
Interactive: How the Uvalde massacre story has evolved according to police enforcement
Evidence presented at a terrifying session in the Texas state legislature on Tuesday suggests that the 19 dead children and two dead teachers were also let down by law enforcement, who took an hour, 14 minutes, and 8 seconds to enter the classroom where the shooter committed his atrocities.
There is also the horrifying potential that some of the kids would still be alive today if authorities had adhered to mass shooting protocols advised since the Columbine school shooting in 1999 to eliminate the gunman as quickly as possible.
It appears that the lives of police officers were put before those of helpless children.
The parents of Uvalde are not the only grieving family members who have been let down by governing bodies.
The same thing happened after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, as well as after the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, when it seemed inevitable that the brutal killing of 20 young children and six adults would inevitably result in changes to prevent further such massacres.
However, as soon as the initial shock over the slaughter started to fade, the gun lobby mobilised to put pressure on Republican senators, and momentum in Congress dried up.
The mayor of Uvalde criticises the state body looking into the school shooting and declares that the elementary school will be dismantled.
In the coming days, the US Senate is expected to pass the first bipartisan firearms safety measure in almost a generation, which was partially sparked by the Uvalde mass shooting, giving some of those parents hope that their long campaign for change will finally be at least partially successful after a decade.
However, the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated a century-old New York statute that prohibits the carrying of a concealed firearm outside the home, highlighting the difficulties facing gun control supporters.
Local law enforcement officials have warned that such a decision would aggravate gun crime and result in more fatalities in the Empire State and other states with similar laws.
Recriminations over a haphazard and insufficient response to the Robb Elementary School catastrophe, however, are only intensifying in Texas.
Following the legislative hearing in the state on Tuesday, where Col. Steve McCraw, the director of Texas’ Department of Public Safety, referred to the local response to the May 24 massacre as an “abject failure,” there have been new allegations that state officials are selectively leaking information to absolve themselves of blame and harm Uvalde officials’ reputations.
Col. McCraw, according to Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, “has continued to — whatever you want to call it — lie, leak, mislead or misstate information to separate his own troopers and Rangers from the reaction,” in a statement made on Tuesday.
The Department of Public Safety is being sued by state senator Roland Gutierrez of Uvalde County for allegedly failing to promptly release public papers about the shooting.
Texas DPS head criticises the gunshot reaction in Uvalde
These apparent power struggles, rumours of cover-ups, changes in official accounts, and a failure to provide prompt explanations about what happened on that tragic day one month ago are all consistent with the lack of openness displayed by authorities both before and after the massacre.
It is making the already horrific experience of parents who are grieving their children even worse.
At a special City Council meeting in Uvalde on Tuesday night, the resentment and indignation reached a boiling point.
Berlinda The grandmother of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza, a victim of a school shooting, Irene Arreola requested to know why Pedro “Pete” Arredondo, the head of the school district police, is still in his position.
Arredondo, who was designated by other officials as being in charge of the on-the-ground response, is accused of holding off on taking action until he had access to weapons including shields, rifles, police radios, and a key to the classroom where the children were.
According to additional information and accounts, at least one child dialled 911 from inside the classroom to request assistance. Border Patrol officers eventually stormed the room and killed the shooter.
Arreola spoke out during the special City Council meeting to demand that the grieving community’s opinions be acknowledged.
She remarked of Arredondo, “He let us down. Do not fail us by making the same error he did, she warned. “Continue and make it right.
Get this man out of our lives, please.” The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District made the announcement that Arredondo will be put on administrative leave on Wednesday night.
Hal Harrell, the superintendent of the district, stated that the decision was made “because of the lack of clarity that exists” and the hazy timeline for receiving the findings of numerous investigations.
Arredondo has refuted earlier accounts of his involvement, telling The Texas Tribune that he did not view himself as the incident commander and that he did not give orders to cops to desist from entering the scene.
Before the news about Arredondo surfaced, Arreola told CNN’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day” on Wednesday that her family’s situation is getting worse as they miss young Amerie more and that the secrecy surrounding the massacre is making their suffering worse.
It’s simply getting tougher and worse by the day, she remarked, about everything that is coming to light and all that we are learning.
“And we need to speak up for all of these families and kids. We must rectify the situation. And we must investigate everything thoroughly to learn the real story.”
There is never going to be comforted for such suffering.
However, there might be a sign that their struggle is not hopeless in the coming days for the parents and relatives of victims of prior massacres who feel let down by the political system and have converted their grief into activity.
The most important piece of gun safety legislation in nearly a generation appears to be on the verge of being approved by the US Senate. It will be significantly less than the demands made for policies like a ban on assault weapons made by several Uvalde families during their testimony before a House committee earlier this month.
But in a Senate with a razor-thin margin of support and Republicans who have long opposed any reforms to gun rules, that may be all the political system can take at this point.
The new law also responds in part to the call for action that was made after the shooting in Uvalde and another atrocity that left 10 dead in a store in Buffalo, New York.
Millions of dollars are allocated in the measure for crisis intervention programmes, mental health services, school safety, and incentives for states to add juvenile records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
If a person between the ages of 18 and 21 wants to purchase a firearm, the procedure is significantly altered. It addresses the “boyfriend loophole,” which would make it harder for someone with a criminal record for assaulting a romantic or intimate partner to purchase a weapon.
Advocates for gun control and a few Senate Democrats have been working on this for years.
History has demonstrated that progress on the most sensitive subjects in a profoundly divided country can only occur in small increments.
This is valid for both the left’s campaign to legalise same-sex unions and the right’s burgeoning anti-abortion movement. Results from both campaigns took years, if not decades, to materialise.
Nicole Hockley, a Sandy Hook shooting victim who lost her son Dylan, said on CNN on Thursday night that the days of arduous negotiations that resulted in the gun compromise had not been simple.
She emphasised that it might be the start of something, not the conclusion and that the seemingly hopeless politics of gun control might shift.
“There’s always room for more. This represents progress. On CNN’s “AC360,” Hockley stated, “I think it’s going to be interesting to see some folks who have been hesitant to touch this topic realise they can vote yes on this, do the right thing for their voters, and yet keep their political careers.”
However, powerful forces are working against adding further gun safety regulations. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, wants to conduct a vote on the legislation as soon as possible to prevent Republicans from being uneasy when they return home and face criticism during the July Fourth break.
At a gathering in his home state last week, Cornyn—the chief Republican negotiator on the Senate package—was jeered by attendees.
The stance taken by former President Donald Trump, which is not supported by any of the facts of the current endeavour, has been that any movement in the chamber on the weapons package is the beginning of a slippery slope toward the repeal of the Second Amendment.
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A new law won’t ease the suffering of the parents of the victims of Uvalde, Sandy Hook, or any other gun tragedy, even if it is passed in the coming days with enough Republican backing.
But at the very least, it will demonstrate that when something bad occurs, the government need not be totally ineffective and incompetent.
Perhaps now that Uvalde’s residents are being let down by state and local authorities in Texas, they will start to receive the message.
