Another day, another…
“3 students were wounded in a shooting on Tuesday at a Dallas high school where, almost exactly a year ago, a student was shot in the leg by a classmate, the authorities said.” #GunViolence #Texas
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/us/dallas-school-shooting-wilmer-hutchins.html
Trump ends policy of revoking licenses for gun dealers who willfully violate gun laws.
"On April 7, 2025, the Trump administration announced the end of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) 'zero tolerance' policy, a move specifically requested by the gun lobby."
"Over 1,000 dealers were cited for serious violations while the policy was in force"
https://smokinggun.org/report/trump-doj-ends-policy-that-shuttered-dangerous-gun-dealers/
From our magazine: The El Paso Walmart shooting in 2019, the largest massacre of Mexican Americans in the history of the United States, prompted award-winning journalist Richard Parker to take a second look at what was his family’s hometown during his youth.
https://www.texasobserver.org/el-paso-untold-story/
"April 1 was the first day of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It's also the day the Department of Health And Human Services fired the teams that work on sexual violence prevention.
The layoffs were part of a round of dramatic cuts to the federal health agencies, amid the Trump administration and Elon Musk's efforts to shrink the federal workforce."
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/nx-s1-5349529/hhs-layoffs-sexual-assault-rape-prevention
I haven't seen a lot about this in the national news, but the lawyer for the 2019 El Paso mass shooter (Patrick Crusius) is now expressly stating that his client thought he was working for Trump to stop the "invasion" (by brown people) the president said was occurring in Texas.
https://elpasomatters.org/2025/03/30/patrick-crusius-donald-trump-aug-3-2019-walmart-mass-shooting/
Patrick Crusius believed he was fulfilling Trump’s wishes in El Paso attack, his attorney says
"Patrick Crusius believed he was acting at the direction of President Donald Trump when he murdered 23 people and wounded 22 others at an El Paso Walmart in 2019, his defense lawyer told El Paso Matters.
“He thought he had to stop the invasion because that’s what his president was telling him, which is just not rational,” defense attorney Joe Spencer said in his first extended interview about the mass shooting that Crusius said was meant to stop “the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
“He thought, if he doesn’t do it, then nobody’s going to do it. He’s got to start,” Spencer said."
It's not lost on me that Trump sycophants and apologists have a whole ream of excuses at the ready; the shooter had a history of serious mental illness, his lawyer is a Democrat who (rightfully) thinks Trump's white nationalist rhetoric is dangerous, Crusius awkwardly tried to absolve Trump in his manifesto, and so forth. The fact is however that just because fascists are willing to spew disingenuous lies to cover up Trump and the larger fascist propaganda industry's involvement in motivating a mass murderer, doesn't mean any thinking person has to treat those disingenuous excuses seriously. This guy was one of Trump's legion of white nationalist fanboys; he was quoting Great Replacement conspiracy theories in his cut and pasted manifesto, he was adamantly against his lawyer subpoenaing Trump, and the shooter even admitted a 2019 Trump rally in Florida was the moment that convinced him to plan and enact the murders.
"Spencer said Crusius told him that a key event leading to the murderous rampage in El Paso occurred in May 2019 in Panama City Beach, Florida, when Trump spoke at a rally.
“I mean, you have 15,000 people marching up and you have hundreds and hundreds of people and you have two or three border security people that are brave and great,” Trump said, then added falsely that Border Patrol agents weren’t allowed to use weapons.
“But how do you stop these people?” Trump said.
“Shoot them,” someone in the audience shouted, drawing laughter from the crowd and a smile from the president.
“That’s only in the (Florida) Panhandle you can get away with that statement,” Trump said while shaking his head. “Only in the Panhandle.”
Crusius said he saw video of that Trump rally and was motivated to act, Spencer said. In June 2019, a month after the Florida Trump rally, Crusius purchased a semiautomatic rifle online and had it delivered to a gun dealer in his hometown of Allen, Texas, near Dallas, according to court records."
Like are you fucking kidding me? Please keep in mind that as you read this, the Trump regime is currently arguing that Venezuelan migrants are literally "an invasion" that justifies the president invoking war powers to ship them to a slave labor prison in El Salvador without due process. Of *course* this maggot fascist believed Trump was serious about migrants "invading" America and destroying the country because Trump himself is serious every time he says it! And the fact that Crusius was suffering from documented mental illness isn't a valid excuse either because when you tell folks that they're being invaded by brown people who're going to rape and murder them, you don't get to pretend its a surprise when vulnerable people high on your white nationalist conspiracy theories take that seriously; the negligence itself, is the problem here just as much as the overt race war rhetoric is.
By the way, don't sleep on the fact that the primary reason you're only hearing all of this now is that his lawyer has been under a gag order that was only dissolved in late March; you know, after Trump was elected again.
"A bill that would ban the manufacture and drastically restrict the sale of certain semiautomatic firearms that can accept detachable ammunition magazines in Colorado is now headed to Gov. Jared Polis’ desk...Senate Bill 3 would prohibit people from buying the otherwise banned weapons...unless they get approved by their county sheriff and complete up to a dozen hours of training."
https://coloradosun.com/2025/03/28/colorado-gun-law-senate-bill-3-passes/
Another day, another...
"Mass #shooting at juvenile party leaves 2 dead, 4 injured in Tacoma
The ages of the victims range from 16 to 21, authorities said."
https://abcnews.go.com/US/mass-shooting-juvenile-party-leaves-2-dead-4/story?id=120289910
From our magazine: Like most rural counties, not just in Texas but nationwide, Nolan County has no psychiatrists. The lack of providers means that people are more likely to receive care from a general physician with little mental health training, if they receive treatment at all. Sometimes, that absence can prove deadly.
https://www.texasobserver.org/mental-health-crisis-rural-texas
Columnist John Tures highlights his findings on the effectiveness of Red Flag laws, by looking at which states have high gun deaths 
#Opinion #RedFlagLaws #GunViolence
https://cobbcountycourier.com/2025/03/should-georgia-adopt-a-red-flag-law/
Yet another shooting in #Brussels. One person was seriously injured. The shooter has not been identified and is still being sought: www-rtl-be.translate.goog/actu/regions... #Bruxelles #Brussel #shooting #gunviolence #violence
Nouveaux coups de feu à Anderl...
#Michigan shooting: Police search for 'employee in scrubs' at Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital in Troy, Michigan
Police don't believe the shooter is still inside the hospital, but it's still on lockdown this morning while they continue to search it.
Patients & visitors are told not to come to the hospital for appointments or other business until further notice. https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/michigan-hospital-shooting-police-search-1041497?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar
Trump removes #gunviolence public health advisory. “The Department of Health and Human Services recently removed a former surgeon general’s warning declaring gun violence a public health crisis to comply with the president’s executive order to protect Second Amendment rights, according to a White House official.” | POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/17/trump-gun-violence-public-health-advisory-00234171
#TheGremlinZoo #USPol #HHS #GunViolence
From CNN.com: HHS removes surgeon general’s gun violence advisory from its website
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/18/health/surgeon-general-gun-violence-advisory-removed?cid=ios_app
Via Kyle Griffin:
Health and Human Services has removed a former surgeon general's warning declaring #GunViolence a public health crisis.
Vivek Murthy — who served under President Biden — issued the advisory last year, citing the increasing number of firearm-related injuries and deaths in the U.S.
In a world where the surgeon general's advisory on gun violence is tossed aside, we must ask: what does it mean to prioritize rights over lives? The chaos of our times demands a reckoning. #GunViolence #PublicHealth
The Trump administration's move to erase gun violence as a public health crisis is like coding without error handling—dangerous and reckless. We need to prioritize lives over politics. #GunViolence #PublicHealth
As we navigate the stormy seas of policy and public health, let’s not forget the real impact on our communities. Gun violence isn’t just a statistic; it’s a crisis that demands our attention and action. #PublicHealth #GunViolence
The Trump administration's move to erase gun violence as a public health crisis is a dangerous game. When will we prioritize lives over political agendas? #PublicHealth #GunViolence
