Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rarely has a dull moment these days, and that’s not a good thing in this situation. Although his state avoided another ice-storm debacle this year, Abbott still kept the hits coming with a defense of his state’s insane new abortion law (which he said doesn’t need a rape exception because he will handily round up all the rapists). Now, he’s reacting to the Uvalde mass school shooting (in which a lone gunman killed 19 children with an AR-15 style rifle purchased on his 18th birthday, when you can’t buy alcohol or rent a car at that age) with what he feels are hard-hitting new laws.
Not quite, though. Abbott tweeted out a letter that outlined his plan, and it sure looks like the onus for preventing shooting is on the schools. In other words, he’s not here for restricting how easy it is to purchase semi-automatic weapons. Instead, one should expect an increased GOP obsession with doors:
I’m directing the Texas Education Agency to ensure schools are held to heightened safety standards following the tragedy in Uvalde.
I requested TEA to:
– Identify actions to make campuses more secure
– Conduct weekly inspections of doors
– Increase presence of trained officers
I’m directing the Texas Education Agency to ensure schools are held to heightened safety standards following the tragedy in Uvalde.
I requested TEA to:
– Identify actions to make campuses more secure
– Conduct weekly inspections of doors
– Increase presence of trained officers pic.twitter.com/VvydUiIkQ9— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) June 2, 2022
It also sounds like there will be fake intruders coming to schools, via the Texas Tribune, which detailed Abbott’s directive for “in-person, unannounced, random intruder detection audits on school districts.”
What could go wrong? That’s the sentiment coming from Twitter, which wondered whether these unannounced fake-intruders would end up in the crossfire, and all of this will only cause further trauma to already on-edge kids.
Unannounced random intruder audits?What is this even supposed to look like? If they know it’s fake it’ll be no different from the lockdown drills we already do every month. If they don’t know it’s fake, you’re talking about making them believe there is a mass shooter for real. pic.twitter.com/ofj1Dg2C0W
— § (@SarahLynn2390) June 1, 2022
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to take school shooter “drills” to another level. and make them “audits,” meaning the state wants to send a real intruder (one working for the state) into schools, randomly, to “audit the response”
Sure idiot, lets randomly terrorize children..
— Old Man Lefty (@OldManLefty1) June 2, 2022
So, @GregAbbott_TX is going to stage phony intruder drills, which logic tells you would traumatize teachers and kids, while perhaps even conditioning them to believe a real threat might simply be an idiot Abbott drill. https://t.co/E3jVxd0DiK
— Matt Angle (@LSPmatt) June 2, 2022
Exactly this. @GregAbbott_TX’s plan to subject schools to “random, unannounced intruder tests” is just further normalizing school violence. https://t.co/4Yx3uAJndO
— thomas rayosun long
(@ACoupleOkooks) June 2, 2022
Story: Education advocates criticize Abbott’s plan to have school safety officials conduct unannounced intruder drills at public schools.
It was one of many mandates he handed down to crack down on school security ahead of next school year.https://t.co/kWlbEUwzxB https://t.co/fwSrTxMNMG
— Kate McGee (@McGeeReports) June 1, 2022
Oh yeah I can see a whole lot of 911 calls over that and those making the calls won’t be in the wrong because they’ll believe they have an intruder but it will be keeping 911 from answering real calls, this is ridiculous across the board, no school should endure such a drill.
— PAF (@paf_2) June 2, 2022
We’re Movin’ now! Ye haw!
What a waste of our time this guy.
Greg Abbott instructs school safety officials to conduct “unannounced, random intruder” audits of Texas public schoolshttps://t.co/ntKGrtYZjv
— One Vote Left (@socialapitalist) June 3, 2022
“Unannounced random intruder audits?”
What could go wrong?—
(@Soup_4MyFamily) June 1, 2022
Well, at least it’s summer vacation, so this won’t happen for a few months, but yikes.
(Via Texas Tribune)