Texas

Analysis: History suggests attention on gun policy will fade well before the November elections

Published

2 years ago

May 31, 2022

Analysis: History suggests attention on gun policy will fade well before the November elections

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Time is the enemy. Per week has handed since 21 individuals have been murdered in an elementary college in Uvalde, an atrocity nonetheless on the heart of private and non-private consideration and concern.

Gov. Greg Abbott and different politicians sure to gun tradition are squirming, however historical past tells us public consideration will subside, that voters will transfer on to different points and that the Texas pols can chill out into their ardent deregulation of weapons, the No. 1 reason behind dying by damage for youths within the U.S.

The elected officers who’ve performed little to guard Texans and different Individuals after any of the mass shootings that got here earlier than Uvalde have one thing in frequent with the dumbfounding inaction of the 19 first responders who idled in a hallway at Robb Elementary for greater than an hour final Tuesday whereas a gunman killed 21 youngsters and lecturers.

These officers are frozen by their concern of what may occur in the event that they act, ruled by what probably the most zealous Second Modification voters may do in the event that they attempt to make gun security a precedence.

They don’t seem to be the noble heroes we hoped they might be. They’re simply scared. And it’s a highly effective concern, too, that may maintain them at bay whereas individuals they’ve the power to save lots of are as a substitute murdered.

They’ve actually made it simpler to purchase weapons and ammo in Texas than it’s to vote, or to get licensed to chop hair or deal with meals. Solely the primary of these issues — shopping for weapons and ammo — requires no coaching, registration, licensing or certification.

These lawmakers are doing their jobs as they see match, tailoring their responses to the desires of a few of their most outspoken voters. Ignoring the bloodbath has dangers of its personal, however their political judgment is and has been that the wrath of gun rights supporters will likely be worse than the wrath of voters who suppose gun violence is out of hand and needs to be reversed.

What occurred final week as soon as once more pits the deregulators towards the implications of their very own work. Nearly anyone in Texas should buy or carry a gun, and which means just about anyone will, educated or not, secure or not, evil or not.

It’s so scary that the uniformed officers within the hallway didn’t problem the killer. It’s so scary that the lawmakers in Austin and Washington constantly facet with the individuals behind the weapons as a substitute of the individuals in entrance of them.

Voters can repair this, if they need. Politicians are hypersensitive to voters, and if the mandate is for anti-violence, that’s what the conversations within the capitals will likely be about. Our latest historical past predicts apathy — that in a short while, voters will transfer their consideration elsewhere whereas the curiosity teams whose livelihoods rely on gun deregulation persist.

A gun lobbyist is nothing however a persistent activist, exhibiting as much as work day by day with a selected focus, at all times speaking to lawmakers, bending coverage lengthy after others’ consideration has wandered.

The remainder of us? Not a lot. That’s not nearly gun security. It occurs with foster care, pandemic restrictions, nearly every part. We’re involved with the headline points, for a minute, after which we return to what we have been doing. These hyper-aware politicians, after a couple of days, solely hear from lobbyists and curiosity teams and different skilled seekers of presidency favors. It’s not shocking who normally wins the day.

The “good man with a gun” thought was disproved by 19 good guys with weapons final week. The guarantees of motion that adopted different mass killings have been undone by majorities of the 181 Texas lawmakers and the 535 members of Congress many times.

The outcomes haven’t modified as a result of we haven’t modified. Our outrage light after Sandy Hook, Parkland, Santa Fe, El Paso, Sutherland Springs, Odessa and all of the others. Texas has had 21 college shootings to date in 2022, in response to the Gun Violence Archive, and based mostly on the response of our policymaking politicians, the voters of Texas and of the U.S. are unstirred by that.

Now it’s been per week. The vacation weekend had the same old run of flicks and grilling and household gatherings and parades. We get distracted. We put horrible issues in our rearview mirrors and transfer on.

It’s true that the politicians haven’t solved this, and that failing belongs to them. They’re cowards, shackled by the concern that voters will likely be tougher on them for doing one thing than we’re if, as soon as once more, they do nothing.

That failing belongs to voters. The facility to show authorities heads is simple to grasp and onerous to train. All it takes is consideration — and persistence, which is nothing greater than sustained consideration and motion. Consideration is simple; persistence is uncommon. Take a look at what number of occasions we’ve been outraged by mass killings and what number of occasions we’ve moved on and let the ardent gun rights advocates management the federal government.

Texas Republicans have managed state authorities for greater than 20 years, constantly working to decontrol weapons for years, believing that’s what their voters need, and Democrats are blaming them for the outcomes and calling for brand new legal guidelines. That’s what their voters need. Bear in mind, although, that Texas obtained its open-carry legal guidelines when Democrats had a say. That’s what voters needed.

Politics is about phrases, but in addition actions. The Texas responses to taking pictures after taking pictures quantity to an institutional protection of gun tradition, preserving a ghastly establishment as a substitute of remaking it.

That’s on the state’s voters. If what lawmakers have been doing was out of line, we’d be punishing or correcting them, and that hasn’t occurred.

They do symbolize us, and so they’ll change issues if we insist.

This isn’t a straightforward problem. There aren’t a few bumper-sticker options we will put into regulation to repair it. However the mindset, the need to resolve the issue, doesn’t exist but. It should take a very long time and a ton of labor, like arising with vaccines within the face of an epidemic, or going to the moon or constructing a freeway system. However lawmakers have promised motion earlier than and performed little. They misled us, and voters needs to be as furious about that because the governor mentioned he was about being misled by lies about regulation enforcement heroics in Uvalde.

We’ve seen for years the ability of the small group of voters who management Republican primaries in Texas, and by doing so, management state coverage. When you make it simpler for a assassin to acquire a homicide weapon, you need to have to clarify to the victims and everybody else why you thought that was a good suggestion.

Now’s the time.

Politicians don’t need to lose elections to get the message; they simply need to get the message voters are sending. In 2018, Republicans received all the statewide elections, however they knew voters have been incensed about property taxes and public training, and in 2019, they got here to Austin with these points on the prime of their priorities.

There’s an election between now and the subsequent common session of the Legislature subsequent January. And in the event that they maintain particular classes on gun security earlier than then, as lawmakers from each events have urged, that election will supply voters an opportunity to say whether or not they’ve performed sufficient.

They’ll reply to gun violence, however provided that a persistent public calls for it.

Editor’s be aware: Ross Ramsey, who co-founded The Texas Tribune, retired because the Tribune’s govt editor earlier this yr.

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Texas

What to know about the newly named leader of Texas DPS

Published

8 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Press Room

What to know about the newly named leader of Texas DPS

The Public Safety Commission has unanimously approved Freeman Martin to lead the Texas Department of Public Safety, tapping a top lieutenant of outgoing Director Steve McCraw.

Here’s what to know about the incoming head of the state law enforcement agency:

Martin, 56, is senior deputy director of DPS, where he has a “crucial role” in planning, directing, managing and overseeing the agency’s activities and operations, according to his staff biography.

Incoming Texas Department of Public Safety Director Freeman Martin. (Texas Department of Public Safety)

DPS has more than 11,000 employees and a $3.5 billion biennial budget.

His career at DPS began as a Highway Patrol trooper in 1990. He has been a Highway Patrol corporal, narcotics service sergeant and a sergeant, lieutenant, captain and major with the Texas Rangers, the agency’s elite investigative division. He also has been regional commander for the Central Texas Region and deputy director of DPS, a post he was appointed to in 2018.

He has expertise in executive protection, violent crime prevention operations, intelligence, counterterrorism and homeland security, and he led the DPS response to the Sutherland Springs mass shooting, Hurricane Harvey and Operation Lone Star.

Martin established a Texas Anti-Gang Center in San Antonio, helped develop the Texas Rangers Major Crime Scene Response Team and runs a number of initiatives to support local law enforcement agencies.

He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command.

The Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS, conducted a national search after McCraw announced his retirement in August.

The five-member commission is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. At a Sept. 6 meeting, the commission set minimum requirements for the position, opened a four-week window for resumes and letters of interest through Oct. 4, and created a subcommittee to vet applicants and make recommendations.

The subcommittee selected three finalists for in-person and virtual interviews conducted Oct. 16 and Oct. 24. At its meeting Wednesday, commissioners deliberated privately for nearly 2½ hours before returning to announce Martin as its undisputed choice.

His appointment is effective Dec. 1. He will be sworn in the following day at a ceremony at DPS headquarters.

McCraw, whose retirement takes effect next month, led the department for the past 15 years, calling it “the greatest honor of my life.”

He rose from Highway Patrol trooper in 1977 to narcotics agent in 1983, when he left DPS to join the FBI. McCraw left the federal agency in 2004 to become Texas’ homeland security director until he was named to lead DPS in 2009.

McCraw was heavily scrutinized over the police response to the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, including the inaction of dozens of DPS troopers who responded. Officers from multiple agencies waited more than an hour to enter a classroom to confront and kill the gunman who killed 19 students and two teachers.

McCraw was not in Uvalde at the time. He later called the police response an “abject failure” but resisted calls to step down. McCraw blamed the delayed police response on the local school police chief.

In his retirement note to staff, McCraw didn’t say what’s next for him. Instead, he expressed his “deep pride and heartfelt gratitude” to his employees.

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Texas

Harris County attorney pushes for stronger laws to protect Texas renters from negligent landlords

Published

17 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Harris County attorney pushes for stronger laws to protect Texas renters from negligent landlords

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It’s no secret that if you’re a renter in Texas, you don’t have the upper hand.

“It’s basically very friendly to landlords to be able to punish tenants, to evict tenants, and so it creates this, what I think is an overly favorable environment to landlords,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said.

When problems go without repair for months, the law says you still cannot withhold rent, and there are hoops you have to jump through to hold your landlord accountable.

Through Action 13’s Renters’ Rights, we hear about these problems often.

So, what can be done?

It’s a long process and rare for a city or county in Texas to step in and hold negligent landlords accountable.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee is determined to change that. He says he knows what it’s like.

“Like many other folks in Harris County, I came up in a working-class family, and part of my upbringing was living in an apartment complex. This was a complex that had units that were routinely infested with roaches, that had cars being broken into all the time. My mother’s car was stolen multiple times from this apartment complex,” Menefee explained.

He’s seen it and wants to stop it.

“Here in the state of Texas, there just aren’t laws on the books that allow us the opportunity to go after landlords,” Menefee said.

He says that come January when the legislature reconvenes, he’ll be in Austin, pushing for a fix. “What I’d like to see is a law that allows the government to step in and immediately call these folks to account, whether that’s through an administrative procedure, through fines, through a lawsuit, anything to push them in the direction of doing the right thing,” Menefee explained.

His office found a creative way to sue a local complex earlier this year.

The Palms on Rolling Creek in north Harris County had severe sewage issues for years. Months after the lawsuit was filed, the owners did make progress in fixing it.

Menefee is putting negligent landlords on notice, and you can help.

“My ask to you is if you are living in an apartment complex that is not treating you right, or you know someone who is, have them report that to us and also reach out to your local, state representative or state senator,” Menefee said.

They need to know about the problems to help them make their case for why they believe these laws need to change.

“I understand your experience. I have lived through that myself. My family has lived through that. We hear you, and we are going to keep working on those issues,” Menefee said.

For more news updates, follow Courtney Carpenter on Facebook, X and Instagram.

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Nate Germonprez: Texas' Un-Real Breaststroker Becomes #7 Performer in History

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Press Room

Nate Germonprez: Texas' Un-Real Breaststroker Becomes #7 Performer in History

2024 Texas Hall of Fame Invite

November 20-22, 2024
Where: Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center — Austin, TX
When: 10 am CT prelims/6 pm CT finals
Participating Teams: Pitt, Stanford, Texas (host), USC, Wisconsin, BYU, Cal Poly
Meet Info
Live Results
Results on Meet Mobile: “Texas Hall of Fame Swimming Invite”
Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals

The Texas Longhorns entered the summer with a lot of weaknesses on paper that needed to be addressed, and via the addition of high profile transfers and international recruits, they have addressed many of those.

The big question mark, though, was the breaststroke leg and whether the Longhorns had someone good enough to challenge for an NCAA title.

The group was led last season by 5th year Jake Foster, who swam 51.22 at a dual meet, and Will Scholtz, who was 52.09 at Big 12s. 52.0 is a nice time by almost any measure, but for a team hoping to climb several rungs on a ladder and challenge for an NCAA title, it wasn’t going to be enough.

The comments read things like “where are the Longhorns going to find a true breaststroker,” referencing the fact that Texas didn’t have a swimmer finish higher than 16th at NCAAs in the 100 breast last year.

But on Thursday morning, they may have found their guy as Nate Germonprez, now a sophomore, turned a corner with a 50.39.

That makes him the 7th-best performer in the history of the event with the 15th best performance ever in a flat-start 100 yard breaststroke. Every time ranked ahead of him was done at a season-ending championship, making Germonprez’s swim the best mid-season time in history.

Top 10 Performers all-Time, Men’s 100 SCY Breaststroke

Liam Bell, Cal – 49.53 (2024 NCAAs)
Ian Finnerty, Indiana – 49.69 (2018 NCAAs)
Max McHugh, Minnesota – 49.90 (2022 NCAAs)
Caeleb Dressel, Florida – 50.03 (2018 SECs)
Kevin Cordes, Arizona – 50.04 (2014 NCAAs)
Carsten Vissering, USC – 50.30 (2019 NCAAs)
Nate Germonprez, Texas – 50.39 (2024 Texas Invite)
Caspar Corbeau, Texas – 50.49 (2022 NCAAs)
Van Mathias, Indiana – 50.57 (2023 NCAAs)
Brian Benzig, Towson – 50.59 (2024 NCAAs)

Germonprez is a bit of a paradox as a swimmer. He was a very good breaststroker in high school, winning an NCSA title in the 100 breaststroke in 2023. But he was so versatile that his 52.59 as a high school senior was almost overlooked, when in most classes that would make him a big ‘breaststroke’ signing.

We wrote several articles and did interviews in tribute to his versatility (here and here, for example).

He didn’t even swim a breaststroke race at the Olympic Trials, instead opting for the 50 free (53rd) and 200 IM (12th). He would later swim the 100 free (49.46), 200 IM (1:58.11), and the 100 breaststroke (1:00.48) at the Austin Futures meet, winning and going best times in each. His 100 breaststroke time would have put him into the semifinals at Trials.

Is he a real breaststroker? He’s not a pure breaststroker, if that’s what we mean when we say “real,” which is understandable because for most of swimming history, breaststrokers were sort of a different breed.

But he broke the school record of Caspar Corbeau (50.49), who is most certainly primarily a breaststroker (though he can sprint a little bit too).

When Germonprez and Modglin both committed to Texas, it was fun to daydream about what that tandem of versatility could bloom into in the college ranks, and now we’re seeing it happen. As much as Texas needed guys like Chris Guiliano and Kacper Mawiuk and Hubert Kos to move back into the national title picture this quickly, they really needed a breatstroker, and now they have one.

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