The United States had its 280th mass shooting of the year on Saturday. This time it was in Midland and Odessa in Texas. The shooter was killed by police, but not before he killed 5 people and wounded 21 others (including a 17 month-old, a Texas state trooper, a Midland officer, and an Odessa officer).
The shooting happened just one day before new gun laws went into effect in Texas. But those new laws didn't do anything to restrict guns. Instead, it further loosened gun laws in the state. The Texas legislature (controlled by Republicans) is as useless as the U.S. Senate (also controlled by Republicans). Both have had time to act since the El Paso shootings, but have done NOTHING (and undoubtably will repeat that pathetic performance after this latest shooting).
This shooting, like those before it, makes a few things very clear:
* There are too many guns in this country (more guns than people).
* Guns are too easy to get by people who shouldn't have them (criminals, terrorists, the dangerously mentally ill, etc.).
* Young white homegrown men are far more dangerous to the public than immigrants (yes, this shooter was a 30 year-old white man).
* Republican legislators think guns are more important than the lives of their fellow Americans.
