Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Suggests Abortion Led to Santa Fe Shooting
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pointed to abortion as one of the potential causes for the Santa Fe school shooting on Friday that left 10 people dead.
Patrick, a Republican, addressed the latest tragedy Sunday on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopolous. Patrick suggested that Americans should not be surprised by the taking of innocent life, since “we have devalued life.”
“Whether it’s through abortion, whether it’s the break-up of families, through violent movies, and particularly violent video games,” Patrick said, reverting to a familiar Republican talking point.
During his interview with This Week and in separate interviews on other networks, Patrick suggested the solution to preventing more school shootings going forward is to arm teachers.
Patrick said that guns “are part of who we are as a nation,” referring to the Second Amendment.
“You know, it talks about a well-run militia – the 2nd Amendment – our teachers are part of that well-run militia, by the way,” Patrick told Stephanopolous on This Week.
Patrick’s call to arm teachers matched calls of other Republicans around the country in the wake of Friday’s shooting. Some Republicans, including Patrick, have also called for single entry and exit points at schools.
“[W]e need to get down to one or two entrances into our schools. You have the necessary exits for fire, of course. But we have to funnel our students into our schools, so we can put eyes on them,” Patrick told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union.