Greg Abbot is wrong about gun control

 

Memorial at the site of the Allen, Tx shooting

Fair warning: this will be political, because I am angry—angry beyond words at Greg Abbott who is johnny-on-the-spot with praise for police and offers of all state support systems after a mass shooting but does nothing to prevent them, angry at the people who are growing numb, shrug their shoulders and say nothing will be done. I cannot believe that we have to live this way, afraid to go to the mall, to a ball game, to a birthday party, for heaven’s sake.

I’m not sure how Abbott has convinced himself guns are not the problem—oh, wait, I know. It’s the campaign money he gets from gun manufacturers and the NRA. After the shooting in Allen this weekend, he was way too quick to say there would be no review of gun laws but a focus on mental health. In a Sunday Fox News interview (yep, take the easy ones, Greg) he explained that the state has been grappling with this for a year now. Grappling has done them no good, because nothing has gotten better since Uvalde.

Mass shootings in Texas began, remember or not, in 1966 with the UT Tower shootings. Here’s a list of those since:

Daingerfield Baptist Church, 1980

Grand Prairie, 1980 (I don’t remember this one)

Luby’s Cafeteria, 1991 (boy do I remember that one)

Fort Worth Wedgwood Baptist Church, 1999 (I was at a meeting in my church wondering about all the sirens)

Fort Hood, 2009 and 2014

Ambush of Dallas police at a protest, 2016

Sutherland Springs Church, 2017

Santa Fe High School, 2018

El Paso WalMart, 2019

Midlan-Odessa shopping enter, 2019

Uvalde, 2022

Cleveland, Texas 2023

Allen shopping mall, 2023

Notice how the frequency increased after 2016? Perhaps because of loosened gun restrictions in the state? Greg Abbott has been governor since 2015. I am not saying, of course, that Abbott caused the shootings, but I am saying someone might look at the connection between loosened gun control and the frequency of shootings: more people had easier access to guns. IF I were Abbott and had that on my record, I would be quick to want to solve it and clear my good name.

Abbott claims focus on mental health is the answer, albeit a long-term answer. My first question is what he means by mental health, which is a catch-all nothing phrase, useful as a sop to the voting pubic. The variety of mental problems in any population is mind boggling. How does he plan to detect them? What programs will he institute? What kind of timeframe does he project? Biggest question of all: if he’s been grappling with mental health in the Texas populace for a year, why did he cut funding for those programs by over $200,000 last year so that Texas is the state with the lowest funding for mental health problems in the country. Greg is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

As for time, we don’t want to wait years for mental health programs to create a healthy population where no citizen wants to kill their neighbors. That’s not going to happen.

I’m willing, even eager to say that most mass shooters have mental health problems. To me, no one in their right mind could gun down countless people, including children, with those merciless weapons. But detecting them before the act is another thing: mental health is a huge net with lots of holes in it. Why and how did the Allen shooter get a weapon, when he had a record of extremism clearly documented online?

In almost all mass shootings, it becomes clear after the event that the shooter should never have had a gun. Texas does have background checks (my mistake, because I thought it didn’t)—a check so superficial that a store clerk completes it while the buyer stands at the counter and waits. And you do have to register with a federal database, probably for ATF. And if you order online, the weapon does not go to you but to a federally licensed store where, presumably, a check is done. Checks at gun shows are to say the least problematic.

It seems obvious that guns in the hands of the wrong people are the problem. An effective solution: ban assault weapons and immediately stop their production by manufacturers. A tall order, but it can be done. It was under Clinton and could be again, although there are millions more assault weapons in the hands of individuals now.

What to do about the weapons already out there? A buyback program would only be minimally effective, but how about a registration program that involved new background checks and heavy fines for failure to comply?

Background checks must be thorough and intense, with a long enough waiting period for a deep check to be done. By contrast I read somewhere that you can now rent an assault weapon for an hour or so—to vent your frustrations, I guess. There are minimal  restrictions.

One small step toward sanity: a bill to raise the purchase age for assault weapons from eighteen to twenty-one was passed out of committee today and will now go to the full Texas House for consideration. It might have stopped the Uvalde shooter but few others.

There is absolutely no reason for any civilian, eighteen, twenty-one, or eighty-five, to own an assault weapon designed to kill as many as possible as quickly as possible. Those weapons are killing our friends and neighbors, our children. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Weather, podcasts, voting, and oh my goodness!

 

Doesn't look quite this bad this time--

but just wait

My first instinct is to say this was an average day, with not much going on in my little world. But in retrospect that is so wrong. The weather is the lead story, as far as I’m concerned. Have you ever been so cold? I shiver inside my well-heated cottage and worry about the people of Ukraine. It’s a demoralizing gray outside, and though it’s been cold all day and there’s a bit of ice, I understand it is to get worse tonight. It’s not only when they cancel school a day ahead, but when they cancel garbage pickup, you know you’re in trouble.

In this weather with icy roads, old friends from San Angelo arrived in the Metroplex, here for a meeting. Preston and Harriet Lewis came by for a visit this afternoon, and I was almost surprised to see them. I had thought they would change their minds about traveling, but they are brave. Preston said he was only worried about other drivers—a good caution in North Texas. I probably haven’t seen this couple for twenty-five years, but we were once all active in Western Writers of America (Preston and I are both past presidents). We had a high old time talking about people we knew back when, although sadly several are no longer with us. Still, we laughed a lot, and it was a good visit. Our friendship is also a great example of renewing old ties through Facebook, because that’s what we did. Preston has written some terrific westerns, including comic ones. And he told me today he is the world’s expert on cats on the western frontier. I told him everyone needs a niche.

The other highlight of my day was that a gentleman named Dean Jones interviewed me for his podcast, “The Well-Seasoned Librarian.” As a librarian, he is of course interested in books, but he is particularly interested in the food angle, so we had lots to talk about. I got all gussied up—clean hair, makeup, a good sweater—because the link was to Zoom, and I thought it would have video as well as audio. Not so. I could see him, but I couldn’t tell if he could see me or not. He asked great questions, and I had a chance to talk about everything from the transition from Chicago to Texas to retirement and my conviction that one retires from a job but never from writing. Dean promises a link when it’s up, and I will share that, should anyone be interested.

Moving on to voter suppression. It took me three, determined tries to get a mail-in ballot. Today I was told that my ballot was incomplete, and for it to count I must go in person to the voter registration office. When I explained that I am mobility challenged and don’t drive, they best they could offer was curbside service. (I worked hard to let the nice lady on the other end of the phone know that I was angry but not at her, and I hoped she had a pleasant day.) The hitch is a new requirement that you put either your DL number or the last four digits of your social security number on the outside of the envelope. The voice on the telephone assured me that when you seal the flap the information is hidden from public view. The problem is that the requirement is apparently in tiny print amidst all the print on those envelopes, and those of us who have filed by mail for years simply didn’t look at it. There has been no public campaign to alert voters. Wouldn’t you think if government—in this case Texas state government—wanted to encourage the vote they would mount a campaign about all the changes in ballot requirements? Instead they’ve snuck them in, in small type, and alerted no one. I only heard about it, after I mailed the ballot, on Facebook. Can you spell voter suppression? I have again talked to the independent newspaper that tells me they are still working on an article. And just for the record, I will register a complaint with the Texas secretary of state.

In other state news, Governor Abbott is practicing medicine again without a license. Wonder where he got his medical education? First he exercised his vast medical expertise (and apparent moral superiority) with a series of orders to physicians caring for women that absolute ignored the physical and mental consequences of exceptional pregnancies. Now he has ordered physicians to report to the department of child protective services (or whatever its proper name is) any case where parents are providing transgender healthcare to their children. It is, he says from on high, child abuse. His edict is awfully close to invasion of privacy. And he is more than ever a mean little man who seems to think he is a dictator.

A bright note on this wintry night: Christian made wonderful tortilla soup, and Jordan made chocolate chip cookies. When the going gets tough, you can count on Jordan for chocolate chip cookies. I’m so blessed.

Pot roast makes for a good day

Pot roast

Yesterday, for reasons of its own, was not one of my better days, but today is a good day. I woke to sunshine, the temperature has been moderate all day, and my cottage smells wonderful. I put a pot roast in the crockpot early this morning, added potatoes about noon, and carrots about four. Now I can’t wait to eat it. They say you should bake bread (or cookies) if your house is being shown for sale; after today, I’d say you should put a roast on. The gravy in this one is a simple mix of dry onion soup, cream of mushroom soup, and half a cup of red wine. I used to do that for my kids all the time.

Am I crazy? I am just devastated that Gov. Abbott has opened up the state—no mask mandate, business as usual. Yes, I’ve had both shots and feel fairly safe but not invincible. I had been looking forward to dinner in a restaurant with a friend next week. I distinctly remember having dinner with her on March 12, 2020—it was the last time either of us ate in a restaurant. But now I’m not sure I want to eat elbow-to-elbow with unmasked people. The CDC is issuing a stern warning against rushing to open too soon—guess the good governor just didn’t hear that one. I’m not inclined to be a fan of the Texas governor, he who brought us the energy crisis. Now he’s exacerbating the covid crisis.

I know the argument is that we must restore the economy, but I’m skeptical that letting large numbers of people catch the virus is going to do much for the economy. It seems to me a question of weighing human life against the economy, and I know which one I’d choose. Abbott says individual vigilance is still needed but state mandates are not necessary. What fairyland does he live in that he thinks everyone is going to continue to mask and social distance without the mandate? Sure, a lot of us will, but too many won’t. For one thing, trump politicized the whole mask question to the point his followers think it’s a badge of independence to go without a mask. And Lord knows, we have too many of his followers in Texas!

One more comment on that subject: how many people have you heard of with the flu? Think maybe masks work? Sure, between CDC protocols (masks and social distance) and the terrific roll-out of vaccinations (Isn’t it nice to have a president who does what he promises?), covid numbers are dramatically going down. When you’re winning is not the time to quit fighting.

On a brighter note, I found some clothes I’d lost. I asked Jordan to help look, and she was quite insistent that I had approved giving them away. I knew that wasn’t true because it was a favorite pair of leggings and a shirt that I wore with several things. She was standing in the closet, puzzled, when I suggested maybe they were buried in a basket that sat to one side. And there they were, under some other things—shirt, leggings, a pair of pajamas I wear a lot. Please do not ask how they got there. Brightened my day.

And another bit of bad news for the day—the estate of Dr. Seuss has decided to pull six books from the market because of racial images. I’m not sure which six books, so I can’t speak to the images, but it seems a shame to deprive children of the joy of Dr. Seuss.

Don’t get me started on Governor Cuomo. I’m on a tear already tonight!

Two Questions for Governor Abbott--and a bit of history

This is not a political post. I’m not attacking Governor Abbott or anyone else, but I am sincerely puzzled by two things I’ve been seeing on Facebook a lot.

The first is the new law limiting suits by communities and dollar amount against big corporations for pollution. With climate change and the environment one of the major concerns in this country and the world, I cannot see any advantage to this except protection of big corporations—and endangerment to the everyday Texans our state government is supposed to protect. I wish Governor Abbott would tell us his thinking when he signed this law—you know, transparency in government and all that.  I genuinely want to know, because it sounds like a disaster in the making to me. Once again, I am disturbed by what we do to Mother Earth in the name of greed.

The second questions has to do with all this gold bullion being stashed away to back Texas currency. What Texas currency? As far as I know we don’t have our own money. Does this hark back to Reconstruction when some Texans wanted to secede? I’ve heard that it’s a first step toward secession. Then I’ve also heard that the gold is safely stored in a New York bank, Why New York? If we’re stashing it, why not in Texas? If it’s an asset, why don’t we use it to help the poor with housing, medical costs, food, etc. Or schools?

The whole idea of secession has been around since we first became a state back in 1845, but today it make me shudder. Does anyone know the story of Van Zandt County’s secession? After the Civil War, that county decided to withdraw from the Union and from Texas. General Phil Sheridan was in charge of Texas during Reconstruction, and he stormed troops north to Van Zandt County to tell those misled farmers they couldn’t do that. But the farmers used a Revolutionary War tactic—they hid in trees and took potshots at the troops in formation as they marched up the road—and then turned around and retreated.

The citizens of Van Zandt County retired to Canton where they built a big bonfire and got out the little brown jug. Late that night, Sheridan’s troops surrounded the town, put all the men in a stockade where they kept them one long cold, wet winter. When spring came and the ground was muddy, the prisoners could push the poles of the stockade apart. One by one they disappeared into the night. Some never returned to Van Zandt County. I think it’s a cautionary tale.

Can’t resists getting in a plug: you can read all about it in Luke and the Van Zandt County War, winner of the best juvenile award for the year from the Texas Institute of Letters. Available from TCU Press, Texas A&M Press, or Amazon. Yeah, I wrote it. Maybe I should send the governor a copy—ya’ think?

If the guv answers my questions, I’ll be sure to let you know.