Texas church shooting: at least 26 killed, 20 injured

A familiar pattern plays out after every mass shooting in the US.

First, advocates of gun control point out, accurately, that taking guns off the streets and limiting who can buy them will save lives. Then opponents of gun control argue that there are no regulations that can stop a determined shooter and that what we really need is to address mental health.

RENO, Nevada — Marilyn Lewis had never held a gun. But on one dry desert afternoon in June, the Alabama education official aimed a 9 mm pistol at an armed teenager in a high school classroom during a shooting rampage. Students screamed. Lewis pulled the trigger. After the third round, the gunman fell to the ground.

Everyone applauded. “He’s wounded in the chest, he’s down,” said one of the Laser Shot sales reps as he looked at the results on a computer tablet.

It has only been five days since a gunman walked into a place of worship in Texas and opened fire, killing 26 people. But America is already moving on.

If you look at the online pages of most major national news outlets, the mass shooting at the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church is no longer anywhere close to the top news. On Google Trends, it’s no longer among the top 50 topics that people are searching for.

The gunman who killed 26 people in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday may not have been able to purchase a gun in the first place if it weren’t for a bureaucratic blunder by the US Air Force.

The gunman, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley, served in the Air Force but committed crimes while in uniform. He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault on his wife and child in 2012, even cracking his child’s skull. Kelley served 12 months in confinement and eventually left the service in May 2014 and with a bad conduct discharge and had his rank reduced to the lowest level in the Air Force.

America’s poor enforcement of its existing gun laws seems to have contributed to yet another atrocity.

We now know how Devin Kelley, who was previously convicted of domestic abuse while he was in the Air Force, was able to purchase guns and on Sunday kill 26 churchgoers in Sutherland Springs, Texas. After Kelley was court-martialed, sentenced to 12-months confinement, and received a bad-conduct discharge, the Air Force failed to enter his record in the National Criminal Information Center database — even though Pentagon guidelines require the Air Force to do so.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday threw out the typical conservative talking points following the mass shooting at a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church, arguing not to politicize the shooting and making some claims about “a good guy with a gun.” But in the process, he made — accidentally, it seems — a good case for gun control.

“Evil is evil is evil,” Cruz said on CNN, “and will use the weaponry that is available.”

Whenever a mass shooting happens in the United States — a phrase that is infuriating in its familiarity — there’s a pervasive sense of helpless fury. What can be done to prevent such atrocities, when even talking about gun control kicks up so much political dust?

For starters, as Samantha Bee explained on the November 1, 2017, episode of Full Frontal, we could take a closer look at the frequent link between gun violence deaths and domestic abuse.

At least 26 people were killed at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, on Sunday, law enforcement confirmed. The shooter is also dead following a brief chase.

“As a state, we are dealing with the largest mass shooting in our state’s history,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said.

It could have been worse, but it wasn’t — thanks to “a good guy with a gun.” That’s what several conservative media outlets, from Breitbart to Fox News to the Blaze, are suggesting following the mass shooting at a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church on Sunday.

According to this narrative, an unnamed armed neighbor saved “countless lives” with his bravery after he intervened with his own weapon at the church shooting, pursuing the gunman who killed at least 26 people in Texas. The gunman was reportedly shot before he shot himself, Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt told CNN.

The scene was all too familiar. A group of innocent people targeted, a lone man with a gun, a violent outburst.

During a Sunday morning service at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on a group of church-goers, killing 26 people and wounding 20 others.