It *Was* Worse

 

Gov. Abbott is livid that he was misinformed about the police response and that so many things he said in his comments following the tragedy and later on Wednesday turned out to be entirely wrong. The shooter had an AR-15, not a handgun. There was no resource officer on campus. The local cops were on the scene but waited nearly an hour, even stopping other officials and parents from breaching the classroom due to the wrong idea that the shooter was barricaded and no longer an active shooter--when he was locked in a classroom actively still killing children. And the children in the room were still calling 911. 

It could have been worse--but it is glaringly obvious that it should have been better. (It should not have happened at all. That young man had warning signs including animal abuse and misogyny, made threats and previously tried to get his sister to obtain a weapon for him. A red flag law may have stopped him,) 

If the governor is livid, I'm going to suggest that Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin (who was calling Beto O'Rourke a "sick son of a bitch" for interrupting the solemn lying because of politics) probably helped him get misinformed. The chief of police has his share of the blame. But to some extent, the worst kind of misinformation a man in a position of responsibility allows is the kind he invites. 

The "good guys with a gun stopping the bad guy with a gun" story was the narrative he wanted. It was more complicated than that. It always is.