Texas AG Paxton's shameful Uvalde cop-out: 'God always has a plan'

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Ken Paxton is an asshole

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/19/texas-ag-paxtons-shameful-uvalde-cop-out-god-always-has-plan/

In a podcast interview recorded the day after the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School and unearthed last week by Salon, Paxton was asked by North Texas pastor Trey Graham what he might say to the victims’ families.

“I’d have to say, look, there’s always a plan. I believe God always has a plan,” the attorney general replied. “Life is short no matter what it is.”

It was all in God’s plan. That’s a suggestion we often hear from pious, well-meaning people when other words fail in the face of an unspeakable, inexplicable tragedy. The idea is that some day we will all understand that larger purpose of our suffering. It is meant to be a balm.

But those words sound more like a shrug when an elected leader — and in this case, one who is his state’s top law enforcement officer — offers that as an explanation for a horror that was preventable and exacerbated by human error. Worse, it is a dereliction of responsibility and of the imperative to do something to prevent something like this from happening again, as it has happened over and over.

What Paxton doesn’t want to consider, he made clear, is that the events in Uvalde had anything to do with gun laws, which have been loosened considerably in Texas in recent years. He won’t countenance even proposals for a red-flag law allowing courts to order the seizure of guns from people deemed an imminent threat. That, he said, “becomes pretty risky for our freedom.” The only new gun measure he indicated he might support is one that requires schools to train and arm teachers to defend themselves in the classroom.

[enough]

1. That is obscene.

[Cha]

2. Rt🤷‍♂️💕TY.. I hate these Loathsome MF &

the zombie who vote for them.

💙💛

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. Just exactly WHEN

is the FBI going to drop the hammer on this chingadera? They have been dicking around "investigating" him for fuckin' ever!!!!

[Hekate]

4. May it happen to him in his own family, & he can get back to us about his evil god's will...

Paxton’s god, created in Paxton’s image, is evil

[ecstatic]

5. Here's the thing, that doesn't get him off the hook.

It is his job to help keep Texans safe. I think everyone dies when it's their time, but I still wear my seatbelt, masks during the pandemic, and follow other precautions. His personal beliefs about God's plan doesn't absolve him of his responsibilities. And since he wants to quote God, there's a scripture that says faith without works is dead. Even the Bible says that faith is useless if you're not taking the appropriate steps.

[niyad]

9. As the punchline to an old joke goes, "Why do you think I sent the boats and

the helicopter?"

[Thunderbeast]

6. I am losing a lot of respect for this "God" person.

[krispos42]

7. He sacrificed himself to himself to appease himself to save humans from himself

Hmmmm... Yeah, I think I see what you mean

[niyad]

8. Why not? The talibangelicals god is clearly a psychopath.

[NCLefty]

10. More guns than people. America doesn't have a prayer of stopping the violence.

It seems god's plan isn't going well for The Children.

[eShirl]

11. Maybe he should be clergy instead of a state AG.