Following the Texas outlet mall shooting that left at least eight dead, Joe Scarborough was barely able to conceal his anger at Governor Greg Abbott as he hosted “Morning Joe” on Monday.
“There is a sickness in the state of Texas, and that sickness starts at the very top with Greg Abbott, who refuses to protect little children in the state of Texas,” Scarborough said.
The mass shooting took place in Dallas on Saturday evening. The suspected gunman, which many outlets have reported was 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, arrived at the mall in tactical gear and armed with an AR-15. He also had five other guns that were found in his nearby car. The shooter’s motive is currently unknown, but he was wearing a patch that referenced the Right Wing Death Squad, a phrase that is popular among “right-wing extremists, neo-Nazis and white supremacists.”
This tragedy comes shortly after last Friday’s Cleveland, Texas shooting. Abbott’s office was heavily criticized for highlighting that the murdered victims of the Cleveland shooting were “in the country illegally” as they were releasing a statement on this loss of life. Abbott has also been called out for continuing to focus on mental health reform rather than proposing any sort of gun reform.
“Children are being slaughtered, and Greg Abbott has nothing to say about it. He just wants to change the subject,” Scarborough said. The “Morning Joe” host also called out Abbott for “cynically” and “cruelly” focusing on the immigration status of these victims “right off the top” and called the governor “inhumane.”
According to a poll conducted by Fox News, 87% of Americans are in favor of universal background checks for guns, and 80% are in favor of red flag laws. Scarborough also said that the majority of Americans are in favor of banning military-style weapons like the AR-15, the gun used during the Dallas outlet shooting. He then called out most Republicans for acting “helpless” in the face of this national problem.
“We’re just pathetic, pathetic legislators who can’t stop the killing of little children,” Scarborough said. “They care more about the gun lobby and gun manufacturers making money than little children in malls, little children in churches, little children in synagogues, and little children even inside their own homes,” Scarborough said.
Reverend Al Sharpton also called out Governor Abbott’s mental health defense, arguing that if mental health was truly such a priority for the leader, that would serve as even more reason to ban military-grade weapons.
“It is absolutely insulting to our intelligence to leapfrog the immediate to deal with the justified longterm problem of mental health,” Sharpton said. “At some point they’re going to have to rise up and put people in office who will deal with the issue and not try to kick the can down the road.”
Saturday night’s tragedy is one of over 200 mass shootings that have happened in the United States so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The database defines a mass shooting as an event in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
