12 2GM Thursday May 26 2022 | the times
News
family” — her husband, her college
graduate daughter and “three furry
friends”.
Her husband, Ruben Ruiz, is an
officer with the school district’s police
department.
The second teacher killed in the
attack, Irma Garcia, 46, had been work-
ing at Robb for 23 years. In 2019 she was
nominated as a teacher of the year.
Garcia had been married for 24 years
and had four children. Her son told the
broadcaster NBC that a friend in law
enforcement had seen his mother
shielding children from the gunman
when he opened fire. Her nephew
wrote on social media that Irma died a
hero: “My tia [aunt] did not make it, she
sacrificed herself protecting the kids in
her classroom.”
Uvalde is a majority Hispanic com-
munity, about 50 miles from the border
with Mexico — not particularly eco-
nomically blessed and never on the
map until now, as it joins the growing
list of towns torn apart by school shoot-
ings. Sandy Hook in Newtown,
Connecticut, took the highest toll in
2012, claiming 26 lives. Marjory Stone-
man Douglas High School in Parkland,
Florida, used to be the second highest at- Now Uvalde is in the second spot.
US gun reform is almost impossible to
achieve, leading article, page 33
Deep-rooted gun fervour sabotages Biden’s efforts to tighten law
Analysis
P
resident Biden
knows from
first-hand
experience that
if it were
possible to pass new gun
laws in Washington, it
would have happened a
decade ago (Hugh
Tomlinson writes). After
20 first-grade children
and six teachers were
killed in the Sandy Hook
shooting in Newtown,
Connecticut, in 2012,
President Obama made
Biden his point man ongun control. Then, as
now, Democrats faced
intransigent opposition
to even tentative gun
laws in the Senate.
A poll last year found
that 84 per cent of voters,
including 77 per cent of
Republicans, want all
gun owners to undergo a
background check.
Another survey last year
found that 87 per cent
want people suffering
from mental illness to be
barred from purchasing
a gun. Despite that,
Congress blocked an
order from the Obamaadministration that
required the Social
Security Administration
to disclose to the FBI
information about
Americans receiving
benefits due to mental
illness during a
background check.
A 2019 study found
that 72 per cent of gun
owners supported a
“cooling off ” period on
firearm purchases,
allowing more time to
complete a background
check, and prevent
impulsive acts of gun
violence. But such wasthe intransigence of the
Republican-led Senate
under Obama that even
a bill that would have
blocked the sale of guns
to people on a terrorist
watchlist failed to pass.
Before Sandy Hook,
Biden was the co-author
of a law banning assault
weapons and magazines
holding more than ten
rounds that was passed in- The rules expired
a decade later after a
sunset clause was not
renewed under President
George W Bush.
With only a razor-thin
majority in the Senate
today, Biden faces the
same forlorn battle to
rally a bipartisan
response to the Uvalde
shooting. For decades
Republicans have cast
the gun control
movement as an
existential threat to the
constitutional right of
every American to bear
arms under the Second
Amendment.
Republicans have also
blocked efforts to
overturn legislation that
protects gun makers
from liability for massshootings. Biden
lamented last year that
“the only industry in
America — a billion-
dollar industry — that
can’t be sued... are gun
manufacturers”.
Chris Murphy, a
Democratic senator who
previously represented
the Newtown district
that includes Sandy
Hook, admitted
yesterday that there was
no indication that
Uvalde would persuade
Republican colleagues
to relent. “We just don’t
have enough Republicanpartners right now,” he
told CNN.
Biden has already
faced calls to sidestep
Congress and use the
executive powers of the
presidency to impose
restrictions banning
assault rifles, ordering
background checks or
raising the minimum
age of gun ownership to
21 nationwide. Any
executive orders from
the White House would
certainly be blocked
within days by the courts
in Republican-led states,
however.At 7.30am on a normal day, children
would have been streaming into Robb
Elementary School, hugging parents
and skipping through the door to greet
their teachers.
Yesterday there was no more “nor-
mal” in this school, or for the communi-
ty of Uvalde, a previously unremark-
able town deep in Texas border coun-
try.
Outside, a fire department chaplain
stretched out his arms then folded
three colleagues into a hug. Inside, on
classroom floors, there were blood-
stains of the 19 children and two teach-
ers sacrificed to the ever-present
spectre of America’s gun control prob-
lem. And all across the community of
16,000 people — a small town sur-
rounded by prairie, cattle ranching
country and big sky, people were ask-
ing: “Why?”
“The Devil came into school yester-
day and committed this atrocity,” said
the breakfast show host on a local radio
station. “Summer was almost here but
the Devil looked these kids in the eye
and said, ‘You’re gonna die’.”
According to the grandmother of one
pupil, the gunman told the children:
“You are going to die.”
Investigators worked through the
night to identify the bodies; no straight-
forward task when an AR-15 assault
weapon built to tear flesh apart is
involved.
At Uvalde’s civic centre, designated
the “reunification” spot for the lucky
ones, the 21 families left waiting for
news after all the others had gone home
were asked to provide DNA samples.
As matches were made, each family
was taken aside and told the worst. It
was at that point, say people who were
there, that their screams and wails of
grief could be heard outside.
For Angel Garza, the news came after
half a day and half a night spent scram-
bling for information about his daugh-
ter, Amerie Jo, aged ten. “Thank you
everyone for the prayers and
help trying to find my baby.
She’s been found. My little
love is now flying high with
the angels above,” he an-
nounced on Facebook
yesterday.
Hours before his
death Xavier Lo-
pez, ten, had
taken part in the
school’s honour
roll ceremony that
acknowledges child-
ren’s academic achieve-
ment. His proud mother
snapped a photograph of
him with his certificate,
the last she would ever take. “He was
funny, never serious, and his smile, that
smile I will never forget. It would always
cheer anyone up,” she told The Wash-
ington Post. Uziyah Garcia, ten, was
“the sweetest little boy that I’ve ever
known”, according to his grandfather,
Manny Renfro, who would spend time
throwing a ball around with him, teach-
ing him the rules of American football.
“He could catch a ball so good,” he said.
Jose Flores Jr, ten, loved baseball,
video games and his two younger sib-
lings. He was “always full of energy”, his
father, Jose Flores Sr, said.
Eva Mireles, 44, was the
first teacher confirmed to
be killed. She had taught in
the Uvalde school district
for 17 years. A bio-
graphy she had
posted on the
school district’s
website said
she had “a
supportive,
fun and lovingEva Mireles,
44, on left, and
Irma Garcia,
46, died as
they shielded
their pupilsNews School shootings
‘The Devil came into school and
Jacqui Goddard Uvalde, Texas
50 metresRobb
Elementary
SchoolMain entranceMay 24
Gunman
crashes car111.32am (local time)
Gunman enters
rear of the school
carrying weapons2Geraldine StreetRobbMain entrance
Old Carrizo RoadHow it happened
TEXASSan
AntonioGulf of
MexicoUSMEXICOUvalde11.43am School is
put under
lockdown “due to
gunshots in the area”
12.17pm School
announces there
is a gunman active on
the site
12.23pm Scene
still active.
Parents are told to
pick up children at the
town’s civic centre
1.06pm The
suspected
gunman – Salvador
Ramos, 18, of Uvalde –
is killed by police at
the scene345625
20
15
10
5
0
Sources: CDC, K-12 School Shooting DatabaseDeaths in
US school
shootings**Only includes shootings labelled as active shooter events on school property*1980 90 00 10 2020ColumbineParkland
Sandy
HookChild mortality (US, 2020) Robb Elementary School
Guns
Car crashes
Cancer
Suffocation
Congenital abnormities
Drowning
Poisoning
Heart disease
Fire/burns
Influenza/pneumonia2,
2,
1,
1,
817
777
713
415
244
225Note:
children
under the
age of 18Leti Gomez was among those paying tribute at the school the next morningTwo Texas troopers light a candle at a makeshift memorial at the school