CNN Anchors Grill State Rep. On Why Texas Can Act Quickly On Abortion, But Not School Shootings

CNN anchors Victor Blackwell and Alisyn Camerota grilled state representative James White about why Texas can act fast on abortion but not on protecting ten-year-olds from school shootings.

Video:

CNN’s @AlisynCamerota asks Texas State Rep. James White (R) ” we’ve all seen how quickly and creatively Texas, your local legislature, can act when it wants to, say, protect the unborn embryo. Why not act with that alacrity
to protect living, breathing 10-year-olds?” pic.twitter.com/L64rT2urQB

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) May 25, 2022

The exchange:

Camerota: Mr. White, I’m sorry to interrupt, we know those details. What we want to know is what your solution is, and the reason I ask is because we’ve all seen how quickly and creatively Texas, your local legislature, can act when it wants to, say, protect the unborn embryo. Why not act with that alacrity to protect living, breathing 10-year-olds in this school behind me. Use that same blueprint that you used for that abortion law. Make there be waiting periods, make them have to come back to the scene more than once. Make them have to answer questions. Why can’t you protect living 10-year-olds? 

Rep. White: Well, thank you for that question, and let me tell you why we will not — have not taken that approach consistent with the legislation you brought up as it relates to innocent unborn life in the womb is because we have this thing called the constitution. Okay. And what we really need to be looking at is whether it’s Buffalo, whether it’s in Uvalde, is these young men for some reason that have some very disturbed emotional state. We need to look at our mental health system and — 

 Blackwell:  There’s no evidence there’s a mental health issue here sir, we heard it from the governor, elected officials. The governor said there’s no known connection to mental health illness. The statement from the NRA you have a 92% rating from the NRA, this is an act of a lone deranged criminal. There’s no evidence that there was mental illness. 

Rep. White: Well, look, deranged is a state of mental health. So look, we’re going to look at everything.

Republicans Are Being Asked The Tough Questions About Mass Shootings

The NRA’s bogus claim that a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun has been disproven by the Uvalde shooting.

Republicans in the Texas state legislature are being asked why if they can take away women’s rights, take books out of school libraries, attack voting rights, and the LGBTQ community with lightning speed, why can’t they act just as quickly to protect ten-year-olds from being shot and killed in school?

It is a good question that deserves a better answer than the usual NRA mumbo jumbo about the shooter being deranged or mentally ill.

Children do not have to die in school to protect the Second Amendment, and finally, Republicans are being asked tough questions about their hypocritical behavior.

Mr. Easley is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association