Texas' Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is under fire for saying the Uvalde, Texas school massacre in which 19 children died was all part of God's "plan" and that "life is short no matter what."
Paxton is a diehard supporter of former Republican President Donald Trump who played a major role in a failed Supreme Court case to have the 2020 election results overturned.
He is also a vocal opponent of any gun-control legislation of any kind, including basic measures that would have kept the 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde from legally attaining the weapon with which he murdered 19 children and two teachers.
Paxton made his comments when asked during an interview with far-right radio host Trey Graham what he would tell the Uvalde victims' parents about the massacre.
Hear his comments below.
Asked what he would tell parents whose child was slaughtered at school by a murderer carrying an assault weapon intended for war—not legal for civilians to own in any first world country on Earth except this one—Paxton told Graham:
"I think ... I would just have to say, if I had the opportunity to talk to the people I'd have to say, look, there's always a plan."
"I believe God always has a plan."
Paxton went on to essentially say children being "pulverized" and "decapitated" as Dr. Roy Guerrero, a Uvalde pediatrician who treated some of the victims described them, is just a part of life.
"Life is short no matter what it is. And certainly, we're not going to make sense of, you know, a young child being shot and killed way before their life expectancy."
Paxton has a long history of opposing even basic gun-control measures in the aftermath of other mass shootings in the Texas cities of El Paso and Sutherland Springs, because he claims gunmen are "not going to follow a single gun law."
The Uvalde gunman is an exception to this rule, however--he waited until after his 18th birthday to purchase the assault weapon with which he "pulverized" 19 children last month.
Nevertheless, Paxton continued to oppose recent legislation proposed in the wake of Uvalde that would raise the minimum age for gun purchases from 18 to 21, which may have prevented the Uvalde massacre.
Instead, Paxton is among the Republicans advocating for arming school staff instead, a measure that has repeatedly been shown to not only be ineffective but to make violence worse and was a total failure at Robb Elementary in Uvalde.
On Twitter, Paxton's comments left many people shocked and angry.
Paxton is barred from buying a gun under federal law due to a raft of felony fraud indictments filed against him in 2015, funnily enough.
@lpeterp/Bluesky
@FPWellman/X
@bobsbeatgmail.com5/Threads