Abbott, a Republican, has suggested that tightening gun laws will not prevent mass shootings because there are still high levels of gun violence in the states that have done so.
“I hate to say that, but there are more people shot every weekend in Chicago than in Texas schools. And we need to realize that people who think that maybe just applying tougher gun laws will solve the problem, “Abbott said. “Chicago, Los Angeles and New York refute this thesis. So if you’re looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you’re talking about is not a real solution. Our job is to find real solutions that we can implement. “
Civil rights leaders and gun violence experts say Abbott’s comments are both unfair and racist about injecting poor, black and brown communities in a conversation about mass gunmen acquiring weapons of attack.
“Governor Abbott is once again engaging in misdirection and instilling fear based on race to justify his pathetic opposition to the ban on weapons of attack,” Mark Morial, president of the National City League, told CNN. “Given that Texas suffers from a higher rate of gun deaths than Illinois year after year, Governor Abbott should join these efforts instead of demonizing neglected communities that suffer the worst consequences. of the weak gun laws. ”
Illinois suffered 1,745 firearms deaths in 2020, compared with 4,164 in Texas, according to the CDC. Experts on gun violence also say the comparison is unreasonable, as the nature of gun violence in cities like Chicago is different from shooting at a Texas elementary school. According to them, the recent shootings in big cities are more targeted.
Jonathan M. Metzl, a professor of sociology and medicine, health and society at Vanderbilt University, said gun violence in Chicago was the result of systemic problems, including poverty, housing insecurity and gangs. However, school shootings such as the one in Uwalde are linked to the availability of weapons and loose restrictions on age and public wearing, he said.
“A complete racial stereotype” is that Republicans constantly call Chicago, which has a majority of blacks and Latinos, every time there is a debate over gun control, Metzl said.
“It’s a time-tested dog whistle on the right,” he said. “He (Abbott) is playing at his base with that.”
Tristan Bridges, a sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said Abbott “individualized” the mass shootings, saying they were the result of evil or mental illness, and then suggested that Chicago had a widespread problem.
“When he watched the school shooting in his backyard, he took a bad approach to the apple,” Bridges said. “But when he talks about Chicago, he (suggests) it’s a rotten orchard. And it’s racist.”
Elected officials in Illinois also condemned Abbott on Wednesday.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it a “long-running Republican trope” to criticize Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, also dismissed Abbott’s comparison. “You are lying about Chicago and what actually perpetuates gun violence,” Pritzker wrote on Twitter. “Most of the weapons used in the Chicago shootings come from states with weak gun laws. Do better. You have 19 children and two teachers who deserve the best of us.
Some leaders said the Texas governor’s mention of shootings in the country’s three largest cities was a departure from the introduction of real solutions to gun violence in Texas. Several other mass shootings have occurred in the state in recent years, including the shooting at El Paso Walmart in 2019, the shooting at Santa Fe High School in 2018, and the shooting at Sutherland Springs Church in 2017.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said gun violence in other cities was irrelevant to the shooting at a Texas elementary school. The priority, he said, should be to protect citizens at school, at work, in places of worship and in the grocery store.
“We need to stay focused on the issue and not allow divisive and racist comments to take away the dominant narrative,” Johnson said. “We need healthy gun control.”
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