Governor Greg Abbott and the massacre in Texas – Corriere.it

When Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the law in 2013 banning the sale of assault weapons in New York State and limiting the size of magazines to those on the market, Greg Abbott He sent a letter to netizens residing in Manhattan and Albany, the state capital, calling for gun owners to move to Texas: In addition to paying lower taxes, you can arm yourself as you wish Because with us, he said, Second Amendment to the Constitution (The one who talks about freedom of arms) Sacred. And a few years later, as governor, This longtime Republican politician even said he was embarrassed that California had bypassed Texas in buying automatic pistols and shotguns.: He treated his countrymen as if they were lenient and invited them to fill the void.

These episodes explain better than any political analysis why in the United States, and especially in the South, frequent massacres do not counteract the insane proliferation of firearms (more than one per citizen, including children): A devastating crisis is being systematically declassified as a mental health problem for a fewWhereas the apparent irrationality of the choices made so far is disguised as calling for the ideology of freedom to be aided at any cost and in all areas.

Abbottattacked after the numerous massacres precisely by remembering these deviations from the past, The acclaimed symbol of America in shoes, a priest with a smoking pipe at the shrine of arms: This is how he likes to identify himself in Texas, which, along with six other states, has passed laws that leave more freedom for everyone. No major changes are expected even after the Yuvaldi massacrealso because Abbott, who before he became governor for 12 years Attorney Generalthe head of the Texas judiciary, has already warned that in the event of congressional intervention likely to place some restrictions on the freedom of arms, He will appeal in all courts (ie even the now very conservative Supreme Court) against the federal government.

knit with Its policy has always been to increase the circulation of weaponsto take them everywhere and also display them in public, as confirmed by a law passed by the Texas Parliament at the end of last year, shortly after another horrific massacre: the racist massacre in a Hispanic supermarket in El Paso It killed 23 people.

Do not change anything then e Nothing will change today either because Abbott, who has always been elected by a large majority, has the support of the majority of his citizens. In the March primaries, it was voted on by 66% of Republicans: in November the challenge was (but will be very difficult) for Democrat Beto O’Rourke. Yesterday the former young progressive hope interrupted the governor’s press conference with a shout: As long as you do nothing, it’s all on your conscience.

Tomorrow Abbott will speak at the annual meeting of National Rifle Association, the gun lobby, where Donald Trump also confirmed his presence. Abbott will play at home doubly: because he has always been the darling of the NFL and because the convention is being held in Houston, where he was a guest. We will hardly see this 64-year-old leader arrive with an olive branch who has spent his entire political career in a wheelchair, paralyzed since he was 26 from a petty accident.