The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
May 26, 2022
Ted Cruz blames doors for Texas school shooting
@Simone_DeAlba/Twitter
After an 18-year-old shooter entered a school in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday and massacred 21 people with an assault rifle, Republicans are rushing to find any excuse to avoid discussing gun control.
Political commentator Tim Pool offered up the ludicrous suggestion that parents simply “home school your kids”, and now Texas senator Ted Cruz claims the real issue is ... doors.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, the controversial politician said: “If we want to talk about how we could have prevented the horror that played out across the street…
“The killer entered here the same way the killer entered in Santa Fe: through a back door. An unlocked back door.
“I sat down at roundtables with the families from Santa Fe, we talked about what we need to do to harden schools, including not having unlocked back doors [and] not having unlocked doors for classrooms.
“[Including] having one door that goes in and out of the school, [with] armed police officers at that one door.”
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Santa Fe refers to a high school shooting in the New Mexico city in May 2018, which saw eight students and two teachers killed.
Such a ridiculous and - some might rightly argue - insensitive take on the tragedy was soon blasted by Twitter users, who pointed out that such an approach makes escaping a fire particularly difficult:
\u201c@MollyJongFast once again, Bender debunked this stupid idea back in the 1980s\u201d— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1653523214
\u201c@MollyJongFast Let\u2019s blame the school. Not the fact that an 18 year old (or anyone!) can legally purchase an AR15!! Deflecting is their superpower!\u201d— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1653523214
\u201c@MollyJongFast Cause children never go outside for recess.\u201d— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1653523214
\u201c@MollyJongFast One door - in a fire? I was a foster parent. I had to redo the family room in the basement so there was a better way out in a fire per the fire marshall. \n\nAnd "harden schools?" How about we just give up assault weapons?\u201d— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1653523214
\u201cCruz blames 19 kids dead on "an unlocked back door"\u201d— Carol Leonnig (@Carol Leonnig) 1653566800
\u201cWouldn't building schools with only one door create other problems? Like making it harder for kids to get out if, say, there is a fire?\u201d— Karen Tumulty (@Karen Tumulty) 1653563634
\u201cDear God. The idiocy. No gun reform. Just door reform from Ted Cruz\u201d— John Legend (@John Legend) 1653559744
\u201cTed Cruz is right, it\u2019s the doors, a uniquely American phenomenon. Other countries don\u2019t have mass shooting because they must not have doors.\u201d— Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen) 1653534160
And it isn’t the only media appearance from Cruz following the massacre which has sparked outcry, as he stormed off after being grilled on gun control by Sky News.
The ignorance has us incensed.
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