Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was buried under an avalanche of criticism late Saturday after he took to Twitter and defended law enforcement officials in Uvalde , Texas who dithered outside an elementary school classroom that contained a gunman who killed nineteen children and two teachers.
According to the Texas Republican, criticism is "second-guessing" and critics should wait for more information.
Specifically, he wrote, "The second guessing and finger pointing among state and local law enforcement is destructive, distracting, and unfair. Complex scenarios require split second decisions. Easy to criticize with 20-20 hindsight."
That set off a torrent of criticism of Cornyn, with two Democratic lawmakers pouncing on his comments.
Rep. Rueben Gallego (D-AZ) responded to Cornyn with, "I saw 18 year old boys in war do split second decisions. There is no excuse these officers need to be held accountable."
Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) chimed in, writing, "Wait until he finds out that there are politicians who think every American should be able to make those catastrophically deadly split second* (sic) decisions with no training and with military grade firearms."
Rachel Vindman, wife of Donald Trump whistleblower Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, added, "If you think your stalling is going to make us stop talking about this, you’re wrong. Your pals’ speeches at the @NRA just keep digging the hole."
You can see Cornyn's tweet and some responses below:
\u201cWait until he finds out that there are politicians who think every American should be able to make those catastrophically deadly split second* decisions with no training and with military grade firearms.\u201d— Rep. John Yarmuth (@Rep. John Yarmuth) 1653784926
\u201c@JohnCornyn Lord have mercy. I don\u2019t remember this kind of statement during a massive withdrawal in a war zone where less people lost their life in one day in Uvalde.\u201d— Senator John Cornyn (@Senator John Cornyn) 1653763139
\u201cI saw 18 year old boys in war do split second decisions. There is no excuse these officers need to be held accountable.\u201d— Ruben Gallego (@Ruben Gallego) 1653777686
\u201c@JohnCornyn If you think your stalling is going to make us stop talking about this, you\u2019re wrong. Your pals\u2019 speeches at the @NRA just keep digging the hole.\u201d— Senator John Cornyn (@Senator John Cornyn) 1653763139
\u201c(1,3) You are tragically wrong @JohnCornyn. My daughter Jaime was 2nd to last to be murdered in Parkland. She was on the 3rd floor, shot with a single AR 15 bullet that severed her spinal cord. She needed 3 additional seconds to make it to safety. If not for the failed law\u201d— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1653823489
\u201c(3,3) have happened. I and all survivors of gun violence are done being told by you and other people who put us in this place that we should all just be silent. People died because you put the police in a position of being out gunned and they then failed to engage when needed.\u201d— Fred Guttenberg (@Fred Guttenberg) 1653823489
\u201c@JohnCornyn How many split seconds in the 40 minutes they dithered outside?\u201d— Senator John Cornyn (@Senator John Cornyn) 1653763139
