On Saturday afternoon a gunman got out of his car and opened fire on people outside Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas - a Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. The gunman killed 8 people and wounded 7 others before being killed by a police officer who was on-site on an unrelated call. As of this writing, the gunman has not been identified and not motive is known.
It is the second mass shooting in Texas in 8 days. On April 28th, a man executed five people including a child in the Houston suburb of Cleveland in a neighborhood dispute. In recent years, Texas has seen some of this country's worst mass shootings. In November 2017, the Sunderland Springs Church shooting claimed 27 lives. In May 2018, 10 people were killed at Santa Fe High School. In August 2019, 23 people were killed in a Walmart in El Paso in a racially motivated attack. Then in May 2022, 22 people were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde including 19 children.
I suppose we can praise Texas Governor Greg Abbott for not mentioning the immigration status of those who died today in Allen. But all Abbott and Ted Cruz can offer are empty words. For them these mass shootings are the price we pay for the liberties enshrined in the Second Amendment. At the rate things are going, we might not have to wait a week for the next mass shooting in Texas and with it their next helping of meaningless thoughts and prayers.
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