…By Judah Olanisebee for TDPel Media.
Ted Cruz faces criticism for his response to the recent mall shooting in Allen, Texas, in which Mauricio Garcia killed eight people before being shot by the police.
Instead of advocating for meaningful gun control laws, the senator tweeted his thoughts and prayers for the victims’ families.
Cruz’s response has sparked a backlash, with critics saying that it’s time for action, not just words.
The Texas Senator’s stance on gun control has been a topic of controversy for some time, with the senator receiving over $442,000 from organizations that support keeping guns accessible to the public.
His tweets after mass shootings are usually limited to prayers and condolences.
But for many, it’s not enough.
Gun safety group Moms Demand Action founder, Shannon Watts, wrote on Twitter, “You helped arm him with guns, ammo, and tactical gear.
He did exactly what you knew he’d do. Spare us your prayers and talk of justice for a gunman who is dead.
The only accountability we can hope for is that gun extremists like you are thrown into the ash heap of history.”
Witness Steven Spainhouer, a former police and army officer, said, “I’m a gun lover, I have guns.
But these M4s, AR-15s, they’ve got to get off the streets, or this is going to keep happening, and we’ve got to stop that at some point.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott attributed the rising number of mass shootings to a mental health crisis.
However, Spainhouer argued that easy access to automatic rifles is the more significant threat to public safety.
In a statement on Sunday, President Biden renewed calls for Congress to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as well as to enact universal background checks and end immunity for gun manufacturers.
He noted that Garcia had been wielding an AR-15 rifle and wearing tactical gear.
The mall shooting is the 199th mass shooting in America so far this year, and this attack contributes to the unprecedented pace of mass killings in the US.
The nation has seen an average of about one mass killing per week in 2023, and the shooting in Allen was the latest attack that has led to this alarming trend.