Commentary roundup: What newspapers around the state are saying

The following are excerpts from recent editorials in Texas newspapers:

Houston Chronicle

May 26 editorial: In Houston, the NRA show goes on — like Uvalde never happened

Three days after a teenager slaughtered 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in a little Texas town called Uvalde and 13 days after a teen white supremacist used the same sort of high-powered semi-automatic rifle to murder 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket, the loyal people of the gun are coming to Houston.

In light of what’s happened in the past few days, it’s hard to imagine a less appropriate time or place for the National Rifle Association to hold its annual meeting, a gathering the writer Evan Osnos has described as a combination of political convention, trade show and Comic-Con. ...

Members of the NRA have the constitutional right to gather when and where they please, it’s true. Only upon the laws of common decency and respect for the anguished parents, grandparents and siblings who have yet to bury their dead did we rest a faint hope for cancellation.

That’s not the NRA’s style, of course.

— The Houston Chronicle Editorial Board

Dallas Morning News

June 1 commentary, "Gun violence is a solvable public health crisis."

As the murdered children of Uvalde are laid to rest this week, our nation needs to muster the courage and political will to treat rising gun violence and mass shootings as an acute public health crisis.

When auto accidents claimed a large number of lives, government and industry dollars funded research to make cars safer, leading to seat belts, airbags and other now standard safety features. Public health studies that linked smoking to cancer, lung disease and other health risks changed smoking habits. Subsequent legal action held tobacco companies responsible for having hidden the health risks associated with their products.

The Second Amendment protects gun ownership in America. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the individual right to own guns in the Heller decision. In that same ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia also noted that “like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited” and that “the right was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

Federal dollars are slowly returning to gun violence research after more than two decades on the sidelines due to fears that scientific study would lead to gun control. But gun violence research is funded at about $63 per life lost, making it the second-most-neglected major cause of death, according to a 2017 estimate in the Journal of the American Medical Association. While mass shootings at schools rightly spotlight the need for school security, more young people have died from gun violence of all kinds than car crashes, which are second, and drug overdoses, which are third.

— The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board

San Antonio Express-News

May 31 editorial "GOP lawmakers don’t trust educators to teach history, but they can carry guns?"

As it goes with every mass school shooting, our devastated nation is heavy with questions of what could have been done. What if the shooter, who was deeply troubled and made threats online, had received mental health help? What if he weren’t able to purchase two semiautomatic rifles and ammo? What if the school door had locked? What if we “hardened our schools”? What if we armed teachers?

In response, we offer three broad points for consideration: First, that the broader discussion has to be about reducing overall gun violence. Universal background checks for gun sales or red flag laws might not have stopped this shooting, but they would reduce other instances of gun violence. Second, that this conversation cannot meaningfully happen without including guns. Third, teachers did not sign up to be armed. It’s not about “hardening schools” because they are targets. It’s about ensuring schools are never targets.

In a statement the day after the massacre, Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, reflected on the devastation and lack of intellectual honesty from state leaders: “When are we going to take the commonsense actions needed to help stop the slaughter of our children and their teachers where they should feel safest — in our schools?”

Apparently, not after Uvalde. The Texas GOP’s policy response has been feeble and rote. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Sen. Ted Cruz have called for armed police officers at a single point of entry, like airports and courthouses. Education experts say it’s not feasible. Indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton has called for arming teachers.

— San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board

McAllen (Texas) Monitor

May 31 editorial, "Time for Texas to act on gun reform."

In a news conference last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed he was “livid” after learning that he had been given less than accurate information regarding the actual circumstances surrounding the approach taken by law enforcement in the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

We all are “livid” that we find ourselves once again dealing with this type of tragic, senseless attack on our children, our families, our state and our nation.

A common refrain after a tragic shooting is “it’s not the time to debate” or “let’s not politicize this.”

The underlying rationale is that emotions and politics might blind us to reason, but elected leaders do not have the luxury to be idle in the face of a crisis. By holding their positions of power, they have a civic duty to act in the moment — as leaders have done in times of war, terroristic attacks or the pandemic.

Today, the U.S. gun violence debate needs an effective champion for reforms, as we are in crisis.

— McAllen (Texas) Monitor Editorial Board

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman Commentary Roundup: June 5, 2022