Taking to the editorial pages of the New York Times, an author on the future of Texas ripped into Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Monday morning for doing nothing except offering platitudes after two mass shootings in his state in the past few weeks.
According to Richard Parker, author of “Lone Star Nation: How Texas Will Transform America,” the Republican governor is doing less than nothing and his actions -- in word and deed -- may lead to even more gun deaths.
"Exactly how many dead Texans does it take for Gov. Greg Abbott to actually do something about the epidemic of gun violence sweeping his state?" Parker asked. "So far, no body count is too big for our governor, who seems determined to do exactly nothing."
"For years, some legislators have demanded that the governor lead the charge to pass new gun laws in Texas; he did, as Texas actually loosened restrictions on gun ownership with eight new laws, allowing guns everywhere from schools to foster homes and churches. These new laws took effect just hours after seven people were killed and at least 21 were wounded while shopping in Odessa, the oil and gas capital of Texas," he explained before adding, "Yet no amount of violence has shamed our Republican governor nor his right-wing lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, into action."
According to Parker, "[Abbott] has never had the guts to do more than mouth a few platitudes while paying obeisance to the gun lobby and the state’s admittedly historic gun culture."
"If leadership could be rated from one to 10, Mr. Abbott’s would be a zero," he accused. "The names of dead, wounded and shattered Texans on his watch, are etched across the state: Dallas, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe, El Paso and now Odessa."
Parker also notes that Abbott is also AWOL on other topics plaguing the Lone Star state, writing: "Even as the Trump administration has turned Texas into a battleground of controversy, Mr. Abbott has made less noise than a frog in a drought. Not about the horrific conditions for immigrants incarcerated in Texas. Not about a border wall that is actually unpopular with most Texans. Not even about the uncertainty the president has injected into NAFTA, vital to the economic lifeblood of Texas."
Parker closed with a dire prediction, warning, "So long as Mr. Abbott lacks the moral courage to do something, we Texans are picking up the pace, governor. Getting slaughtered."
You can read the whole piece here.
