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After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics

May 30, 2023

FRONTLINE

MALE NEWSREADER: 

Horror in Uvalde, Texas, tonight.

NARRATOR:

One year after the Uvalde school massacre—

MALE NEWSREADER: 

—after a gunman kills 19 elementary school students and two adults.

NARRATOR:

—Futuro Media’s Maria Hinojosa examines the police response—

MARIA HINOJOSA, Futuro Media:

The officers understood that the weapon was a war-style weapon.

ZACH DESPART, The Texas Tribune:

Its initial purpose was to kill humans efficiently. It is very good at that. That is why it is so popular in mass shootings.

NARRATOR:

—the community’s trauma—

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

At this point, families should be at home grieving, but instead we’re still out here demanding change. 

CAITLYNE GONZALES:

Don’t be silent!

NARRATOR:

—and the demands for change.

NIKKI CROSS, Mother of Uvalde shooting victim:

Enough is enough. Do something now. 

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So what are you telling the families?

SEN. ROLAND GUTIERREZ, (D) Texas Legislature:

Hope for everything, expect nothing and hopefully we get a little bit of something.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Would you vote to raise the age?

REP. TRAVIS CLARDY, (R) Texas Legislature:  

Today I would not. 

NARRATOR:

Now on FRONTLINE, in collaboration with The Texas Tribune—After Uvalde: Guns, Grief and Texas Politics.

program

ANNOUNCER:

This program contains mature content which may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.

MARIA HINOJOSA, Futuro Media:

Every two years the Texas Legislature comes to session.

CHEERLEADERS: 

Let’s go, Raiders! Let’s go, Raiders! Let’s go TTU!

MARIA HINOJOSA:

It’s early 2023, and the Capitol is a busy place.

MALE SPEAKER: 

The Senate of the 88th legislative session will come to order.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Lawmakers are voting on bills about everything, from the cost of fuel to property taxes, many without controversy.

MALE SPEAKER: 

Is there an objection to the adoption of the resolution? The chair hears none. The resolution is adopted.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

But in this session, the Legislature is also facing the divisive of issue of guns—

MALE SPEAKER:

It’s none of your business how many guns I own.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

—after one of the deadliest school shootings in history.

FEMALE SPEAKER: 

We defend the Constitution.

MALE SPEAKER: 

We do everything to protect these guns. Let’s just try something to protect our children. [Cries]

FEMALE NEWSREADER:

An unimaginable tragedy in Texas.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:

A gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

On May 24, 2022, accounts of yet another mass shooting in our country began to hit the news.

MALE NEWSREADER: 

Armed with a long rifle, clad in body armor—

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Within days of his 18th birthday, a young man legally bought two AR-15-style weapons and a week later walked into his old fourth-grade classroom—

POLICE RADIO CALL: 

Male subject with an AR.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

—and opened fire.

MALE NEWSREADER: 

Death toll in the Uvalde school massacre…stands at 19 kids, two adults.

After Uvalde: Guns, Grief & Texas Politics

CORRESPONDENT

Maria Hinojosa

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Shortly after the massacre, I did a story about the Uvalde shooting for my podcast, Latino USA.

Today, Uvalde resiste.

I spoke to many people who were reeling from the tragedy.

PRODUCED & CO-DIRECTED BY

Heidi Burke

FEMALE SPEAKER: 

Everybody’s devastated.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

I’m so sorry for your loss, George.

MALE SPEAKER: 

Gracias. Pray for Uvalde.

WRITTEN BY

Amy Bucher

& Heidi Burke

MARIA HINOJOSA:

For the last year, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about these families and about Uvalde.

DIRECTED BY

Amy Bucher

MARIA HINOJOSA:

There are still so many questions. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent this tragedy? And how is this predominantly Latino community responding?

The thing about Uvalde is that it is “Anyplace, USA,” with a strip and fast food, etc. And now it’s on the map for this horrific tragedy. The first big sign that you see is for the Oasis Outback. It looks like it’s a restaurant. The thing is that it’s a restaurant that also has a gun shop; it’s also where the AR-15 that was used in the massacre was picked up from.

I need to know, what does a place like Uvalde do after a horrific tragedy like this? What do you do?

VOICEMAIL MESSAGE: 

Robb Elementary parents, this phone call is for you. Please know at this time Robb Elementary is under a lockdown status…due to gunshots in the area. The students and staff are safe in the building. This building is secure in a lockdown status.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Gladys Gonzalez was one of hundreds of parents who received this automated message on the morning of May 24.

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

I didn’t know really what was going on. Soon after, I received a call from my husband. He tells me there is a gunman inside the school. And just not knowing how my daughter was or where she was, it was just—it was the worst feeling.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Gladys’ 10-year-old daughter, Caitlyne, was in the fourth grade.

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

She had a phone. I kept calling her. I kept messaging her.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

You had no idea if Caitlyne was alive?

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

I didn’t know. I didn’t know until maybe two, three hours later.

POLICE OFFICER [on radio]:

He has an AR-15. He shot a whole bunch of times.

911 CALLER: 

He’s inside the school shooting at the kids!

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

What have you learned about what Caitlyne experienced?

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

Caitlyne was in Room 106, and it was a room that was across where the massacre happened. From what her teacher has told me, the kids huddled together close to her desk. She remembers a lot of the screams and a lot of the chaos. She could hear the police out in the hallways.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Gladys learned that officers broke the windows of classrooms across the hall from the gunman and began evacuating students.

MALE POLICE OFFICER:

Good job. Go, go, go, go. Watch it, watch it, watch it. You’re OK, buddy. You’re OK. We’re going to get you over this, all right?

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Caitlyne was one of them.

MALE POLICE OFFICER:

All the way to the fence! All the way to the fence!

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So what happened when you actually were able to finally see and meet up with Caitlyne?

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

She just gave me the biggest hug. She gave me the biggest hug, and I told her, “You’re safe, now mama. Mommy’s here.”

MALE NEWSREADER: 

The shooter, 18, is dead.

FEMALE NEWSREADER: 

Some families are getting that news they didn’t want to receive this evening.

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

That night my husband and I didn’t sleep at all, just watching the news.

MALE NEWSREADER:

Horror in Uvalde, Texas, tonight after a gunman kills 19 elementary school students and two adults.

MALE NEWSREADER:

Tonight, as investigators gather evidence…we are learning about some of the victims.

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

Caitlyne wakes up and she said, “I wonder where Jackie is?” By then I already knew.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Caitlyne lost many of her friends on May 24, including her very best friend, nine-year-old Jackie Cazares. The two of them had been inseparable for years.

Do you mind if I use my fingers?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

I don’t mind at all.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

I don’t really know what I’m doing. But I’m going to figure it out. I’m inspired by you, because you’re like the artist here.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Back where you live in New York, do you hear chickens?

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

No. What do you think I need to do?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Maybe some red. No, yellow. Yellow.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Kind of sprinkled throughout?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Mm-hmm.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So tell me about your BFF. Tell me more about Jackie.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

She was funny. Her laugh was funny, she snorted.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

When did you meet?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Oh, she was on a swing, and she was playing by herself, so I asked her if she wanted to play with me. And she said yes, and then we kept talking, and, yeah.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Do you talk to Caitlyne about that day?

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

I try not to bring it up, but there’s just a part of her that has become obsessed in wanting to understand what happened. Why they didn’t go in when they had the chance.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

That’s a very profound obsession for a 10-year-old to have.

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

Yeah. You know, the one place where she was supposed to have been safe, and she wasn’t.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

After the shooting, heroic accounts of how officers responded played out in the news.

May 25, 2022

STEVE McCRAW, Director, Texas DPS:

The bottom line is that law enforcement was there. They did engage immediately. They did contain him in the classroom.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT, (R) Texas: 

They showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

But soon, those accounts came under scrutiny.

FEMALE NEWSREADER: 

Tonight there are questions about why it took so long for a tactical team to enter Robb Elementary School.

MALE NEWSREADER: 

Nearly 400 officers at the scene…took more than 75 minutes to neutralize the gunman.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Caitlyne’s father, Nef Gonzales, still can’t understand why officers waited so long.

NEF GONZALES: 

I’m an Army veteran. That’s what they instilled in me, is to protect. I really feel that if I was there, I would have stopped the threat somehow.

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

When you take an oath to protect and serve, you do so knowing that in any time, any minute of the hour, your life can be cut short. And it didn’t happen. It didn’t happen. Why?

FEMALE NEWSREADER: 

Parents are making fresh demands for accountability.

FELICIA MARTINEZ, Mother of Uvalde shooting victim: 

We’re angry. We’re very angry, and we want justice for our kids.

RELATIVE OF UVALDE SHOOTING VICTIM: 

When my niece was in that classroom, dying, waiting for you to help, where were you?

MARIA HINOJOSA:

The events of May 24 were captured on dozens of cameras, hours of police body camera and security footage. For the past several months, we’ve been working with reporters at The Texas Tribune who obtained and reviewed much of that footage.

ZACH DESPART, The Texas Tribune: 

This video footage shows what the police response was to the shooting.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Give me the timing of this?

ZACH DESPART: 

Sure. So this particular moment is about three minutes after the shooter enters the school. He has already fired about 100 rounds inside those two adjoining classrooms he has entered. This is when the first officers enter the school. So I’m going to play that. There will be gunfire in it.

MALE POLICE OFFICER: 

Careful, guys. Shots fired!

ZACH DESPART: 

He fires at them. Two officers are both struck with fragments that pass through the door, through the walls of the classroom, and drives them back. And that’s a really important thing to understand because it affects how they respond the rest of the way.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Oh, my God. Ay, Dios mio.

Those particular gunshots that we hear, will these officers immediately know, “Oh, that’s an AR-15”?

ZACH DESPART: 

If you are someone who’s experienced with guns, you would know, “Oh, that was a rifle.”

MALE POLICE OFFICER: 

Careful with the windows facing east…. Have a male subject with an AR.

ZACH DESPART: 

OK, so this is where the response starts to fall apart. The officers station themselves at the end of this hallway. After they’re initially driven back, they don’t reengage the shooter. That is not what they are trained to do. Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, they’re supposed to engage active shooters until they are subdued. They do not wait for backup.They do not wait for more equipment. The more time you wait, the more people can get killed and the people that are wounded can die. You do not wait for anything. That is what is supposed to happen. That is very clearly what does not happen here.

You can see as I scrub through over the next 40 minutes, more officers arrive. More officers arrive. More rifles arrive. A shield arrives. Two more shields arrive. More officers arrive.

Most, if not all, of the killing took place before police had the opportunity to intervene. But there’s a lot of evidence that builds throughout this time that, yes, there are students and teachers in the classroom, that some of them have been shot and that some of them need immediate medical attention. Even when more reliable information is coming out about the seriousness of the situation, that information is not flowing well among police. 

But they are well aware that these types of rounds, because of their high velocity, will penetrate their normal body armor.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

I don’t know if I’ve really heard emphasized in much of the coverage or reporting that the AR-15 can shoot through regular police body armor.

The Texas Tribune obtained interviews with officers conducted as part of federal and state investigations into the shooting.

Voices of Uvalde Police Dept. officers

MALE UVALDE POLICE OFFICER:

The way he was shooting, he was probably going to take all of us out. I’m just waiting for those rounds to hit me.

MALE UVALDE POLICE OFFICER: 

That .223 round would have gone right through you. Had anybody gone through that door, he would’ve killed whoever it was.

ZACH DESPART: 

This type of rifle was originally designed for military use. Its initial purpose was to kill humans efficiently. It is very good at that. That is why it is so popular in mass shootings.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

And in wars.

ZACH DESPART: 

And in wars.

MALE AD ANNOUNCER: 

This the ArmaLite AR-10, the modern combat rifle.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In the 1950s the AR-10 was developed as a military rifle. Then its successor, the AR-15, was made available to civilians and marketed to hunters and sportsmen.

But in the 1980s, gun companies expanded their outreach to law enforcement and to people who feared a rise in crime. Purchase of the weapon was banned in 1994, but the law expired after a decade. 

Over the years, this type of gun has become a weapon of choice for mass shooters. AR-15-style firearms were used in Las Vegas, San Bernardino, Parkland, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. In 2022, seven of the 12 mass shootings in the U.S. involved at least one AR-15-style weapon.

Images obtained by The Texas Tribune show that the Uvalde gunman researched the AR-15 and the ease of purchasing it once he turned 18. On his birthday and the days after, he was able to legally buy two AR-15-style weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

ROY GUERRERO, M.D., Uvalde pediatrician:

Ready, dude? Give me five.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

As the city’s only pediatrician, Dr. Roy Guerrero has cared for many of Uvalde’s children since they were babies.

ROY GUERRERO:

So if anyone asks you, you’re 3 foot 6. Sound good?

MARIA HINOJOSA:

And he’s seen firsthand just how much damage the AR-15 can do.

So it’s May 24, 2022. Just talk to me about that morning.

ROY GUERRERO:

So I get to the hospital, I know something’s wrong because there’s doctors and nurses running everywhere. There’s a few people that are injured. They’re stabilized. There’s these kids with minor injuries. And then you start to wonder, “Where’s everybody else?” So I asked one of the nurses, “All these kids I see here, is this everyone that’s here?” They’re like, “No, there’s some deceased children in the back.” So they took me back there, and that’s truly when I realize the caliber of what these weapons can do to a child’s body. So imagine a child who’s decapitated. That’s it. What else do I have to tell you? Huge chest wounds where it seems like someone bore a hand through the whole chest. The only consolation I have to myself is maybe it was so fast that they didn’t have time to suffer, that they went quickly. Maybe not peacefully, but quickly.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

I mean, you’re reduced to saying that to parents.

ROY GUERRERO:

What else can I do? Because I couldn’t have done anything for them that day. Nothing. There’s people saying, “Well, maybe we should show the mortuary pictures of these kids that were taken after they passed, pictures of these kids in their coffins, pictures of the funerals.”

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Emmett Till’s mother made a decision to have an open casket, and it kind of changed history.

ROY GUERRERO:

Maybe that’s what it takes. Whether you want to believe it or not, this is what happened that day. These type of weapons, they’re able to inflict so much damage and death so quickly and ferociously compared to other weapons. And if you turn 18 in Texas, you can go buy one tomorrow.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

What do you want to see immediately? I mean, is there something tangible, at a minimum?

ROY GUERRERO:

Ultimately what I would want is a ban. That’s the ultimate goal, which I know I’m not going to get. I think it’s going to take a few brave people at the state level to where we can start to get our voices heard.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In the Republican-led Legislature in Texas, the idea of restricting access to guns is typically a nonstarter. It’s a deeply polarizing issue. But after Uvalde, some Democrats have been trying to crack open the door. They introduced two separate bills in the Senate and the House to raise the legal age to purchase certain weapons, like the AR-15, from 18 to 21.

SEN. ROLAND GUTIERREZ, (D) Texas Legislature:

We’re going to go to a strategy session with the families. I need a room and a hotel where we can have lunch, or in a restaurant.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

The author of the Senate bill, Roland Gutierrez, arrived in Uvalde just hours after the shooting.

ROLAND GUTIERREZ: 

I got there on day one, and I stood there as families were informed that their children had passed on. I heard screams that I’d never heard in my life. They haunt me still today.

It shouldn’t be partisan. How in the world can we not have a law that says an 18-year-old shouldn’t have this type of weapon? We have an age limit on a handgun. An 18-year-old can’t go buy a handgun, but he can go buy an AR-15. Put your head around that one.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So you believe that just raising the age from 18 to 21 is the bare minimum that possibly could happen?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:  

I think it can happen, and that’s why we filed it. It’s not going to prevent this from happening again, but let’s make it a little harder.

Those folks in Uvalde are not asking for the moon and the stars here. They’re asking for a little bit of common sense.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

But what this senator calls common sense is considered a violation by many Republicans and gun owners in Texas.

What is your opinion about the bill—

WES VIRDELL, Texas state director, Gun Owners of America:

To raise the age?

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

To raise the age.

WES VIRDELL: 

We are against it. We don’t think it’s a good idea.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

What is your major concern?

WES VIRDELL: 

Major concern is an infringement on our Second Amendment rights. We have people in the state government, we have people in the federal government that are trying to take away our rights. We think that they swore an oath to the Constitution, and they are failing to honor their oath to the Constitution.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Should it be easy for an 18-year-old to get an assault weapon in the state of Texas?

WES VIRDELL: 

I think it should be easy for an 18-year-old to get a weapon to defend himself from somebody who wants to do him harm, so, yeah. We already have laws that are against murder. This kid didn’t care. So if you make a law that says he can’t get a gun at 18, guess what? He doesn’t care what the law is. He’s going to go get a gun from somewhere.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So what do you say to the parents as a solution?

WES VIRDELL: 

We advocate that governments allow teachers to get the training and to carry into schools.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So you’re just like, what should have happened in Uvalde is there should have been a teacher in that classroom with an assault rifle.

WES VIRDELL: 

Yeah, or close to it. We’ve learned through time you can’t wait on law enforcement to show up and save you. You got to be your own personal self-defense.

MALE NEWSREADER:

Gov. Greg Abbott says the state can’t raise the minimum age to purchase AR-style rifles as some have clearly pushed for, especially in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting.

Aug. 31, 2022 

GREG ABBOTT:

It is clear that the gun control law that they are seeking in Uvalde, as much as they may want it…it has already been ruled to be unconstitutional.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Gov. Abbott has said that the bill that you support is a violation of the Second Amendment.

ROLAND GUTIERREZ: 

That might be his opinion. The fact is states can regulate guns.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In the wake of mass shootings, some states have changed laws. Several have restricted access—

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D) New York:

No 18-year-old can walk in on their birthday and walk out with an AR-15. Those days are over.

GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) Florida: 

We will require all individuals purchasing firearms to be 21 or older.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

—while others have loosened regulations.

FEMALE NEWSREADER:

A new law making it easier to get a handgun in North Carolina.

MALE NEWSREADER:

Guns now welcome in the pews.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Despite the uphill battle in Texas, a group of local families from Uvalde have stepped into the spotlight to push for new gun restrictions.

Aug. 27, 2022

FEMALE SPEAKER: 

We demand Gov. Abbott call a special session to raise the minimum age.

MALE SPEAKER:  

Raise the minimum age to purchase an assault weapon to 21.

FEMALE SPEAKER:  

These laws should have changed a long time ago.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Even students from Robb Elementary like Caitlyne Gonzales have spoken out.

CAITLYNE GONZALES:

You have to be 21 to buy a case of beer, but an 18-year-old bought a gun to kill kids. That does not make sense.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Caitlyne first discovered the power of her voice when families confronted the Uvalde School Board about the actions of their police chief on the day of the massacre.

CAITLYNE GONZALES:

If a law enforcement’s job is to protect and serve, why didn’t they protect and serve my friends and teachers on May 24? I have messages for Pete Arredondo and all the law enforcement that were there that date. Turn in your badge and step down! You don’t deserve to wear one!

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Before they adjourned, the school board voted to fire the police chief, who decried the motion and insisted he and officers tried to keep the children safe.

Not everyone in Uvalde supported the termination or the calls for more gun restrictions. But for some, the demand for change continued.

LALO CASTILLO, Uvalde community organizer: 

We discussed having demonstrations, having picket lines—

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Lalo Castillo, a long-standing activist and community member, has been supporting the effort.

LALO CASTILLO: 

Now we’ve got to figure out what’s going to be the next step.

When this tragedy happened, I saw that the families were very upset, so I started getting involved.

GLADYS GONZALEZ: 

At this point, families should be at home grieving, but instead, we’re still out here demanding change. It’s hard to just stay still and not do anything when you’ve been affected.

MALE SPEAKER: 

We need to fight for, we need to stand up for, and whatever it takes. Whatever it takes.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Caitlyne, what’s going on for you as you’re looking at this, and hear at this meeting?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

It’s amazing.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

What do you feel in your heart?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Proud of them.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

You’re proud of them because?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

They use their voice like I’m using mine.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

There’s a long history of this kind of activism in Uvalde.

LALO CASTILLO: 

Those are students. They’re coming out of class.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Wait! There’s my school!

LALO CASTILLO: 

Yeah.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In 1970, Lalo Castillo helped organize one of the longest school walkouts in American history. Hundreds of students protested across Uvalde after one of the only Latino teachers was let go from Robb Elementary.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Wow, that’s a lot of people.

LALO CASTILLO: 

In order for something like that to be effective, you’ve got to have the numbers.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

How long did it last?

LALO CASTILLO: 

The walkout lasted six weeks.

MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ: 

This is an old scrapbook that I kept from the high school. This is me my sophomore year.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Maria Elena Martinez was 15 when she joined the walkout.

MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ:  

Then we were to leave the campus.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

She and many of her fellow students were taking what they called “a stand against pervasive discrimination” after years of poor treatment in the Uvalde school system.

So tell me what it was like growing up and you’re speaking Spanish.

MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ:  

It was certainly discouraged, and you were punished verbally, physically. My first-grade teacher, if you spoke Spanish she would slap you with a wet ruler on your calf. And it would sting. It would hurt. In the seventh grade one teacher, she would say, “Stop looking at me. You’re a bunch of donkeys and cows with those big brown eyes. Put your heads down.” Anyway. That was in junior high.

I experienced a lot of things that were not right, that were unjust, that were abusive. We said, “Basta. Enough is enough.”

MARIA HINOJOSA:

The students’ demands included bilingual education, better treatment of students and the hiring of more Mexican American teachers.

MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ:  

We walked out to jeers and sneers. Texas Rangers would come by and nudge you, pull the rifle close to you. There were helicopters as well, and they’d zoom over. And there would be police and Texas Rangers on the roof with rifles, pointing guns at us. That was scary. But we stayed, looking forward and marching. It was a movement towards fairness, justice and equality for all. Just like the Constitution says.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In the end, none of the students’ demands were met, but Uvalde would begin to transform.

What changed after the walkout in Uvalde?

LALO CASTILLO: 

Well, actually, nothing changed. We had to force the change. One of the things that happened was that during the walkout, we created a lot of activists. Some of these youngsters ran for office, city council, city mayor, the school board, and a lot of change took place because of that.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

If you think about what’s happening now in Uvalde, and you think about what happened in Uvalde in 1970, in both cases, the children are rising up.

LALO CASTILLO: 

Yes.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

One out of injustice and one out of grief.

LALO CASTILLO: 

Grief and tragedy. Yeah.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Oh, they did it in the rain?

LALO CASTILLO: 

Oh, yeah!

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

When you think about the fact that now Caitlyne is listening to you and saying, “I want to know more, Lalo.”

LALO CASTILLO: 

I love it. If one person takes the torch and runs with it, I’m totally satisfied.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Caitlyne has quickly become one of the most visible faces of the movement for the proposed gun laws. Alongside her mom, they’ve taken their fight to the Capitol.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Don’t be silent!

CROWD: 

End gun violence!

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Don’t be silent!

CROWD: 

End gun violence!

MARIA HINOJOSA:

On this day, outside the Legislature, they’re joined by more than a dozen Uvalde families and relatives of mass shooting victims from all around the country.

CAITLYNE [leading crowd]:

Raise the age. Raise the age. Raise the age. 

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:  

I want to introduce you to the strongest people I’ve ever met in my life. And they are these people that are behind me today…. Do not forget the names of their children…. We’re here to tell this governor…do something to avoid the killing of our children. Do something to make it harder for an 18-year-old to access an AR-15. Do something now! Do something now!

CROWD [chanting]: 

Do something now! Do something now!

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:  

Thank you and thank these families from the bottom of our hearts.

FEMALE EVENT ORGANIZER: 

Caitlyne Gonzales.

FEMALE VOICE:

Go, Caitlyne! Go, Caitlyne.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Good afternoon…. On May 24, everything changed…. As soon as we got to our class, we heard the gunshots. He wobbled my—He wobbled my— [Cries] 

MALE VOICE:

It’s OK, Caitlyne!

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

You can do it, baby.

FEMALE VOICE:

We love you, Caitlyne!

FEMALE VOICE:

You’ve got it, baby.

FEMALE EVENT ORGANIZER:

You don’t have to finish, baby.

GLADYS GONZALEZ:

Do you want me to finish it for you?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

No, I—

MALE VOICE:

We love you!

FEMALE VOICE:

You can do it, take your time!

FEMALE VOICE:

Breathe!

FEMALE VOICE:

We love you!

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:

You can do it, Caitlyne.

FEMALE VOICE:

We love you!

FEMALE EVENT ORGANIZER:

Caitlyne, look at me while you’re telling it. Tell me the story.

FEMALE VOICE:

You got it, Caitlyne.

MALE VOICE:

You got it, girl.

CAITLYNE GONZALES:

He wobbled the doorknob. He banged on my door…. I heard—I remember hearing my best friend’s screams, and…. [Cries] The next day I got the news from my mom, the worst news any child should get. I shouldn’t have to be here speaking. I’m only 10 years old. But I am, because my friends have no voice no more. Thank you for your guys’ time. Have a wonderful day. 

MARIA HINOJOSA:

After the rally, Caitlyne and the families spend the day at the Capitol lobbying and meeting with lawmakers. They get a cordial reception, but no commitments.

So what happens next?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:  

The bill has been referred to the State Affairs committee. We’re talking to the chairman to see if we can get that issue heard. I’ve told my staff we’re going to exhaust ourselves for the next 90 days. Because that’s all that’s left is 90 days, and nothing gets done for another two years.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So what are you telling the families when they come, and they have the energy, and there’s a protest, and you’re saying?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:  

Hope for everything, expect nothing and hopefully we get a little bit of something.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

The fate of the similar bill in the House was also uncertain.

REP. TRAVIS CLARDY, (R) Texas Legislature:

Particularly in Texas there is this constant fear of all-powerful government, and we don’t like being told what to do.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Rep. Travis Clardy is a Republican who’s been in the Legislature for over a decade and has served on the House Public Safety Committee.

TRAVIS CLARDY: 

We’re talking about limiting in a prospective way when someone can buy a firearm. That’s going to do nothing to the huge inventory of weapons already in private hands in the public domain.

I own guns. I’m not saying how many. I could probably outfit the invasion of a small Caribbean island. I’m not the exception; in Texas, I’m the rule.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

My understanding of my time with some of the families in Uvalde is that they actually own guns. So they’re in support of people having guns. They’re not saying take away the guns. They’re not saying ban all assault weapons. What they’re simply saying is, “Raise the age.”

TRAVIS CLARDY:

I think that’s a measure that we can look at and we ought to look at. I think there’s broad support for it, but—

MARIA HINOJOSA:

But here in the Legislature?

TRAVIS CLARDY:

—but I also don’t want anybody to think that that is going to be a panacea.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Would you vote to raise the age?

TRAVIS CLARDY: 

Right now? Today I would not. Today I would not. But I will tell you that that day may come. One of the reasons I would not want to do it today is I want to get back home and have those conversations with the people I represent. What I think what I will hear is people saying, “I’m against any registration. I’m against these things. Don’t limit what I can buy. I shouldn’t have to do anything else. But it should be 21.” I think even in rural East Texas there is a general acceptance that there’s some wisdom in that.

We can’t keep doing the same thing and fall back in the same routine. So how do we break out of that cycle? How do we come up with solutions that will work in a complicated world?

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Reporters at the Tribune and ProPublica have been analyzing the actions of lawmakers in Texas after incidents like Uvalde.

PERLA TREVIZO, ProPublica/The Texas Tribune investigative unit?:

We wanted to know legislatively what happens after these mass shootings. We counted at least 19 mass shootings, and here is where we started, in 1966 with the UT Tower shooting. And you can see as the years go on, they seem to be more frequent. The number of people killed and injured is going up. We see that the types of weapons are increasingly semiautomatic rifles. We came up with a list of at least two dozen bills that could have made it illegal for the shooter to acquire that firearm legally.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin.

MALE REPORTER: 

Terror rained down from the tower…. The university campus resembled a battlefield.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Is there any legislation that actually makes it to the floor as a result then? 

PERLA TREVIZO:

No.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

1. And then 1991, the Luby’s shooting. That’s 23 people.

MALE NEWSREADER: 

A gunman goes on a rampage in a Texas cafeteria, the worst mass shooting in American history.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Did any legislation make it to the floor?

PERLA TREVIZO: 

No.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Then you have the Fort Hood shootings in 2009.

MALE REPORTER: 

Tornado sirens signal the attack on the massive Army post.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Thirteen people killed. Did any legislation make it to the floor?

PERLA TREVIZO: 

In terms of gun control, no.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So basically, the final status of all of these bills, over and over again, was didn’t make it to the floor. Didn’t make it to the floor. Didn’t make it to the floor. Nothing happened.

PERLA TREVIZO: 

Nothing happened. No.

There’s always the argument that you hear from lawmakers, “Well, if someone really wants to commit such an act, they’re going to find a way no matter what.” But what we found is that at least it wouldn’t have been legal for them to have acquired it.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Six of the mass shootings The Texas Tribune and ProPublica had analyzed took place while the current governor has been in office—one of them another school shooting.

Feb. 5, 2019

MALE VOICE: 

The Honorable Greg Abbott!

MARIA HINOJOSA:

In his 2019 State of the State speech, Gov. Abbott responded to the shooting in Santa Fe. He didn’t mention the divisive issue of guns but focused instead on what he pointed to as the real problem.

GREG ABBOTT:

When it comes to school safety, there is one issue, one solution that everybody agreed upon: the need to address mental health in our schools…. Many of our universities already have mental health programs…to identify and remove students who pose a potential threat and to provide students with the help they need. Well, school districts across the entire state deserve access to these very same services.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

The same year, 2019, the governor approved a telehealth program called TCHATT that launched in some school districts. Counselors were trained to spot red flags that a teenager might be on a dangerous path and connect them to mental health support. A teenager like the gunman who attacked Robb Elementary.

A report from the Texas House of Representatives investigative committee provides details of a troubled past. Two separate witnesses—a girlfriend and a cousin—said he talked about suicide. The report states that he had developed sociopathic tendencies and had missed more than a hundred days of school before being kicked out for poor performance and lack of attendance.

We can’t know if the TCHATT intervention program would have made a difference. The first wave of funding was not enough to expand the program statewide, so TCHATT didn’t reach Uvalde until after the massacre.

In this session, the Texas Legislature proposed billions of dollars of increased spending on mental health in the state.

At the University of Texas at Austin, Professor Jim Henson has been tracking the politics around gun policy and mental health.

JIM HENSON, Exec. Dir., Texas Politics Project:

What we’re seeing now is a willingness in this legislative session to spend more money on mental health, to talk about mental health. It resonates as a non-gun-related explanation and remedy for mass shootings that will work for Republican policymakers and Republican candidates.

They would like to have some appearance of bipartisan cooperation. Mental health is a great avenue for that because Democrats are going to be amenable to legislate on mental health, even if it means trading off on gun policy.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

You’ve been watching the Capitol, Texas state politics, for a long time. Do you think that the families and their activism can, in fact, change the politics?

JIM HENSON:

Well, I think it’s a tall order. I’m honestly a little bit skeptical at this point. There are some very deeply embedded patterns in these attitudes among Republicans and Democrats in Texas that are meeting with the institutional reality of what we’re seeing in partisan politics in the state right now.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

I wanted to talk to Gov. Abbott about the gun proposals and the politics.

[On phone, leaving voicemail] It’s Maria Hinojosa. We would really appreciate it if the governor would sit down with us and answer a couple of questions. We’d really like to hear from him directly. I would love to hear back from you. Thank you.

He didn’t agree to an interview.

Is this where you come to talk to Jackie?

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

Mm-hmm.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

On one of my last visits to Uvalde, Gladys and Caitlyne take me to the cemetery to visit her best friend, Jackie.

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

You ready?

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

Oh, my God, it’s beautiful! Let’s make hearts.

For so many here, it’s a place that has become as familiar as home.

And now for Jackie. We feel you, Jackie!

CAITLYNE GONZALES: 

It’s so pretty.

April 18, 2023

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Almost a year has passed since the Uvalde massacre. For those who hoped this tragedy would be a tipping point and result in changes when it comes to gun laws, time is running out. There’s only six weeks left in the session.

So, Senator, when we were last here, there was supposed to be potentially movement on your bill, 145. Will it make it through to the floor for any debate in this session?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ:

It’s not likely. It’s not likely. It’s quite obvious that they are not willing to have a conversation, at least in the Texas Senate, on common sense gun safety solutions.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

While the Senate bill appears to have stalled, lawmakers in the House have agreed to hear testimony from Uvalde families.

ROLAND GUTIERREZ: 

Speaker of the House made a decision that we should hear these people out. They deserve at least that moment to tell their story.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

So do you feel the family’s activism has actually led to a change?

ROLAND GUTIERREZ: 

I believe that it’s led to a point to where we’re having this hearing. That’s something.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Seventeen other bills are scheduled to be heard. It will be a long day before the families will get their turn to testify.

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: 

Select Committee on Community Safety will come to order…. Chair now lays out House Bill 1138.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

While I wait, I get a chance to speak to Jackie’s parents, Gloria and Javier Cazares.

GLORIA CAZARES, Mother of Jackie Cazares:

We’re not trying to take anybody’s guns away. It’s just gone on for so long that we have to meet somewhere in the middle, and how is raising the age not in the middle?

JAVIER CAZARES, Father of Jackie Cazares:

I’m a gun owner. I can still carry. We just want to make this better and safer place for my daughter—not anymore, but somebody else’s child.

MARIA HINOJOSA: 

How many times have you been to this state Capitol?

JAVIER CAZARES: 

We come at least twice a month, maybe three times a month. It’s lost count.

GLORIA CAZARES: 

We’ve met parents from different shootings, and a lot of them have been doing this for years. We’ve only been doing this for 11 months and we’re exhausted. But we’re not giving up.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Hours pass.

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: 

For scheduling purposes, after this bill we’ve got a few more witnesses on this one, and then we’re going to go to the—

Chair now lays out House Bill 2744.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Then, just before 10:00 p.m.—

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN:

Chair now recognizes Chairman King to explain the measure.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

—Democrat Tracy O. King explains why he authored the bill.

REP. TRACY O. KING: 

I’m a gun guy…and the last time we had a big campaign, the NRA endorsed me. I have an A rating with the NRA—or I did up until this session…. But at 11:30, mas o menos, on May 24 of 2022, everything changed…. Ladies and gentleman, had House Bill 2744 been the law in the state of Texas, that attacker would not have been able to buy that weapon.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

One by one, the families from Uvalde come forward to address the committee.

KIMBERLY MATA-RUBIO, Mother of Uvalde shooting victim: 

I wonder if, on May 24, you watched coverage of Uvalde unfold and wondered what you could have done to prevent this tragedy…. Did you imagine what it would feel like to bury your child?

JAVIER CAZARES: 

I saw my 9-year-old daughter draped in a white sheet, cold and alone in an operating room. I saw the wound that took her life.

ANGEL GARZA, Father of Uvalde shooting victim:

I had no idea that “I love you, Daddy” would be the last words I would ever hear come out of her little mouth.

NIKKI CROSS, Mother of Uvalde shooting victim: 

I’m just a mom. I’m not even sure which one of you exactly or sometimes are Democratic or Republican, because I don’t care. I just don’t want any of you to sit here where I’m sitting. I don’t want you to have to identify your child’s body based on what he was wearing to school that day…. [Cries] Enough is enough. Please do something. Do something now…. Thank you.

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: 

All right. Thank you.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Opponents of the bill also come forward.

TARA MICA: 

Tara Mica, representative of NRA opposed to House Bill 2744…. We represent 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds who are not mass shooters.

STEPHEN WILLEFORD: 

Our military is 18 to 20 years old for the most part. You’re saying that they aren’t mature enough to own a gun.

WES VIRDELL: 

Raising the age to 21 will not change the fact that murder is already illegal, and someone who is intent on murder will not be deterred from committing murder just because the age to purchase was raised.

RICHARD HAYES: 

I don’t want to create false hope in a bill that will ultimately be found unconstitutional. I do think we need to find a solution that will stay permanent.

MICHELLE MASSAD: 

I do believe it is a mental problem, and it seems to be getting worse in this country.

C.J. GRISHAM: 

The problem is not the gun.

MARIA HINOJOSA:

These voices on both sides, they reflect the deep divisions when it comes to guns in this country. And even after tragedies like Uvalde, the only thing that seems certain is that something like it is bound to happen again.

Before the legislative session ended in Texas, there were yet more deaths from assault weapons in the state: Five people shot and killed in East Texas, and eight people gunned down at a mall outside of Dallas, including three children. 

Days after the second shooting, the House committee voted to advance the bill one step closer to consideration by the full House. 

COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN:

There being eight ayes and five nays and zero present/not voting, the motion prevailed. [Cheers]

MARIA HINOJOSA:

Two Republicans joined the effort. 

It was an emotional moment for the families, but it was largely symbolic. In the end, when the 88th legislative session closed on May 29, neither the House bill nor the Senate bill made it to the floor.

It will be another two years before the families can try again.

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