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Top Texas law enforcement and government officials promised to hold the officers responsible for the botched police response to the Robb Elementary School massacre accountable for waiting over an hour to end the shooting. But while much of the blame for the decision has centered on the former chief of the Uvalde school district’s police force, new reporting by The Washington Post reveals that top law enforcement agents who were also behind the delay in confronting the shooter remain on the job, one year after the attack.
At least seven higher-ranking officers who failed to stop the gunman are still employed by the same agencies they worked for that day, the Post investigation shows. And in the small city of Uvalde, that means relatives of victims live alongside authorities who faced no consequences for their actions during the massacre. “The officers shop at the same grocery stores as the families,” reporters note. “They umpire weekly softball games. They live in the same neighborhoods. In some cases, they are blood relatives.”
What to Know Today
Gun violence disproportionately affects Black and Latino people, but according to a new UCLA study, young Black and Latino staffers in national-facing gun violence prevention groups commonly reported being marginalized in their work with those organizations. [The Guardian]
As mass shootings increase and President Joe Biden repeatedly calls on Congress to enact new firearm reforms, some House Republicans are pushing to repeal the bipartisan gun safety package passed last summer. [USA TODAY]
A special team of “Peacekeepers,” members of a state-funded anti-violence program who are trained in deescalation tactics, are on deck to respond to unrest or mass shootings in Chicago over the Memorial Day holiday, often among the year’s most violent weekends. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Cars and guns have a similar grip on the American psyche, argues Paul Auster, and they’re both lethal instruments. “If we could face up to the dangers represented by cars and use our brains and sense of common purpose to combat those dangers,” he asks, “why haven’t we been able to do the same thing with guns?” [The Atlantic]
The National Shooting Sports Foundation filed a federal challenge to a California law that makes it easier to sue the firearms industry for irresponsibly marketing and selling its products. The law bans manufacturing, selling, or marketing guns to minors as well as any product that is “most suitable for assaultive purposes instead of lawful self-defense, hunting, or other legitimate sport and recreational activities.” [Courthouse News]
Six in 10 Americans say controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights, according to a new poll. That’s the highest percentage in a decade. [NPR]
Irvin Walker II was shot twice during the attack on a mall in Allen, Texas, earlier this month, sending bullet fragments throughout his body, and dangerously close to his heart. He was released from the hospital this week — but it’s just the beginning of the healing process. [The Washington Post]
During a hearing over a bill that would make Ohio a “Second Amendment sanctuary” state, House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle aired concerns about the legislation: A Democratic member defended the ATF’s pistol brace rule, which a gun rights proponent said would be invalidated by the bill; a GOP representative called a measure that would prevent federal employees from working for state law enforcement “kind of dumb.” [The Statehouse News Bureau]
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Shootings Have Surged — and Gun Companies Have Made Billions: Publicly traded gun and ammo companies raked in unprecedented profits during the pandemic. (May 2022)
