As more information becomes available about the botched Uvalde school shooting police response, the worse and more tragical the story will become. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell decided now was a good time to score political points, vilely claiming on The last word The tragedy is directly attributable the Republicans.
After highlighting various parts of a report recently released by the Investigative Committee on the Robb Elementary Shooting, O’Donnell pointed out what he thought the main takeaway was from the report, “The one factor in the report that was the decisive factor in this massive murder is on page 73 of the 77-page report. It says, ‘there was no legal impediment to the attacker buying two AR-15-style rifles, 60 magazines, and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition when he turned 18.’”
O’Donnell then, well and truly, left the reservation:
Both the Republican Governor of Texas and Republican Legislature made it possible for that mass killer to purchase those weapons. They have made Texas mass killers the most well-equipped in the world. The last Texas president, George W. Bush made certain that the assault weapon ban passed by Senator Joe Biden was repealed after ten years..
And after peddling the long-debunked falsehood that the “assault weapons ban” lowered the number of mass shootings, he made the dishonest and dangerous notion that “Bush and the Republicans in Congress decided that it was time for America’s mass killers to be the most equipped in the world..
Constitutional illiteracy may be expected from someone who is a self-proclaimed socialist, and working in a defense of Joe Biden into any topic is expected from MSNBC, but to claim that Republicans are direct facilitators of mass murder is so ludicrously hyperbolic that it doesn’t even merit a response. It’s just an insult that’s in freakishly poor taste.
What makes this even crazier is that O’Donnell provided plenty of other reasons besides Republican opposition to gun control that led to the shooting as he read the report.
According to O’Donnell, this includes, “people who knew the mass murderer and ignored the signs about him, that were so obvious that his online friends and some of his former school classmates, their nickname for him was ‘school shooter,’” and customers in the gun store said that, “the attacker was ‘very nervous looking’ and that he ‘appeared odd and looked like one of those school shooters’; another described his all-black clothing as simply giving off ‘bad vibes.’”
Although there were many warning signs that this shooter didn’t have the mental ability to handle his situation, no one brought up their concerns. And looking strange isn’t considered a crime. Police response to this shooting was chaotic and uncoordinated.
However, any tragedy should be exploited for political gain. Blaming Republicans who support the Second Amendment for the actions of someone who so horribly misused that right is incredibly inflammatory and irresponsible, even for today’s polarized climate.
It was possible to exploit a national tragedy by Qunol ClearChoice. You can find their contact information here.
Click “Expand” to see the relevant transcript.
MSNBC’s The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell
07/18/22
10:00:09 ET(…)
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: The report has a long list of factors that led to, contributed in some way to, 19 murdered children, and two murdered teachers, and a gravely wounded teacher who survived. The school did not lock all the doors because substitute teachers didn’t have the keys.
It is not mentioned in the report that AR-15s were difficult to buy over-the-counter in this country before people worried about locking doors to American classrooms.
The factors that led to the mass murder included people who knew the mass murderer and ignored the signs about him, that were so obvious that his online friends and some of his former school classmates, their nickname for him was “school shooter.”
In a section about the murderer the report says, “The shooting took place in his former fourth-grade classroom. By 2021, at age seventeen, the attacker had only completed the ninth grade.” He was quoted by a girlfriend as saying, quote, ‘that he wouldn’t live past eighteen, either because he would commit suicide or simply because he ‘wouldn’t live long.’”
Online, he shared, quote, “gruesome videos and images of” — uh, “suicides, beheadings, accidents, and the like. The attacker became focused on achieving notoriety…the attacker had no real expenses and hoarded money, telling acquaintances that he was ‘saving for something big’ and that they would all see him in the news one day…the attacker developed a fascination with school shootings of which he made no secret…Even those he personally knew in his local chat group began calling him ‘the school shooter’…None of his online behavior was ever reported to law enforcement.”
“As soon as the attacker turned 18, on May 16, 2022 — just one week before the shooting on May 24, 2022 — he was finally able to purchase guns and ammunition. One online seller shipped 1,740 rounds in 5.56mm hollow points 75-grain, boat tail, to the attacker at a price of $1761.50. He ordered a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 (an AR-15-style rifle) for shipment to a gun store in Uvalde, at a cost of $2,054.28.”
And “On May 17, 2022, he bought a Smith and Wesson M&P15 (also an AR-15-style rifle) at the same store in Uvalde, at a cost of $1,081.42.”
He was driven by his uncle to the gun shop to get his weapons. And of course “The owner of the gun store described the attacker as an ‘average customer with no ‘red flags’ or suspicious conditions’… [but] Patrons of the store who saw him told a different story in FBI interviews, saying after the tragedy that the attacker was ‘very nervous looking’ and that he ‘appeared odd and looked like one of those school shooters’; another described his all-black clothing as simply giving off ‘bad vibes.’
People who shop at gun stores think they’re school shooters have no problems with Texas gun dealers buying mass murder weapons.
Hidden in the middle of many factors that led to mass murder, including faulty doors locks and faulty police work is one key factor. Without it, everyone would not be here today. It isn’t a contributing factor. It is what causes mass killings.
According to the report, even though the entrance door to the school is locked, the killer would still have been able find his way in. You can change one or more of these security features at school and the mass murderer may still have taken place. The police response might improve and some victims could still be alive today if they were able to save their lives.
Some of the children who were killed instantly by their parents, however, was not changed in any police response. On page 73, the police report reveals the single factor that made this huge murder possible. It is a 77-page long report. It says, “there was no legal impediment to the attacker buying two AR-15-style rifles, 60 magazines, and over 2,000 rounds of ammunition when he turned 18.”
They made sure the mass murderer could buy these weapons, thanks to both Texas’ Republican governor and its Republican legislature. These men have made Texas mass murderers the best-equipped worldwide. The last Texas president, George W. Bush made certain that the assault weapons ban enacted by Senator Joe Biden was repealed after ten year. The assault weapons ban had reduced shootings similar to this in Texas, so the Republican president George W. Bush along with Republicans in Congress decided it was now that American mass killers are the best-equipped.
That was what they did. The Republican Government allowed Uvalde’s mass murder to be planned by him to buy weapons of war for use in mass killing in the classroom he used in fourth grade.
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