Abbott, a Republican, suggested that tightening gun laws would not prevent mass shootings because there are still high rates of armed violence in states that have done so.
“I don’t like to say that, but every weekend there are more people shot in Chicago than in Texas schools. And we have to realize that people think that, maybe if we just implement tougher laws. on weapons, it will fix it, “Abbott said. “Chicago and LA and New York deny this thesis. And so if you’re looking for a real solution, Chicago teaches that what you’re talking about is not a real solution. Our job is to find real solutions that we can implement.”
Civil rights leaders and armed violence experts say Abbott’s comments were unfair and racist for injecting poor, black and brown communities into a conversation about mass shooters getting assault weapons.
“Governor Abbott is once again engaging in misdirection and race-based fear to justify his unfortunate opposition to the ban on assault weapons,” National President Marc Morial told CNN Urban League. “Given that Texas suffers a higher rate of gun deaths than Illinois year after year, Governor Abbott should join this effort instead of demonizing neglected communities that suffer the worst consequences of weak laws on weapons “.
Illinois suffered 1,745 gun deaths in 2020 compared to 4,164 in Texas, according to the CDC. Experts in gun violence also say the comparison is unreasonable because the nature of gun violence in cities like Chicago is different from the shooting at Texas Elementary School. They say the recent shootings in big cities are more targeted.
Jonathan M. Metzl, a professor of sociology and medicine, health and society at Vanderbilt University, said armed violence in Chicago is the result of systemic problems such as poverty, housing insecurity and gangs. School shootings like the one in Uvalde, however, are related to the availability of weapons and age restrictions and public transportation, he said.
It’s a “complete racial stereotype” that Republicans consistently call Chicago, which is mostly black and Latino, whenever there’s a gun control debate, Metzl said.
“It’s a time-tested dog whistle on the right,” he said. “He’s (Abbott) playing at his base with that.”
Tristan Bridges, a sociologist at the University of California Santa Barbara, said Abbott is “individualizing” mass shootings by saying they are the result of evil or mental illness and then suggesting that Chicago has a widespread problem.
“When he watched the school shooting that happened in the backyard, he took a bad apple approach,” Bridges said. “But when he talks about Chicago he (implies) that it’s a rotten orchard. And that’s racist.”
Illinois elected officials also condemned Abbott on Wednesday.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it a “long-standing Republican trope” to criticize Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, also rejected Abbott’s comparison. “You’re lying about Chicago and what really perpetuates armed violence,” Pritzker wrote on Twitter. “Most of the weapons used in Chicago shootings come from states with lax weapons laws. Do it better. You have 19 children and two teachers who deserve our best.”
Some leaders said the Texas governor’s mention of the shootings in the country’s three largest cities was a distraction to introducing real solutions to armed violence in Texas. There have been several other mass shootings in the state in recent years, including the El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019, the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, and the Sutherland Springs Church shooting in 2017.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said gun violence in other cities is irrelevant to the primary school shooting in Texas. The priority, he said, should be to keep citizens safe in school, work, places of worship and the grocery store.
“We need to stay focused on the issue and not allow divisive and racist comments to stray from the dominant narrative,” Johnson said. “We need common sense gun control.”