Ross: When is the right time to politicize tragedy?
May 27, 2022, 6:56 AM | Updated: May 31, 2022, 11:58 am

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke (L) interrupts a press conference held by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
Beto O鈥橰ourke, campaigning again to be governor of Texas, interrupted Governor Greg Abbot accusing him of doing nothing to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
Once Beto was escorted away, the Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, calmly explained that this is not the time for politics:
“But now’s the time to focus on these families, as the governor just said. Right now, we need to put our arms around the families of these victims,” Patrick said.
It鈥檚 a time, he said, to put these families first and everything else second.
But some of these families want more than consolation.
“Two days after their daughter鈥 was shot and killed 鈥imberly Rubio and her husband are urging elected officials to pass restrictive gun laws to help prevent future tragedies. 鈥淲e live in this really small town in this red state, and everyone keeps telling us鈥hat it鈥檚 not the time to be political, but it is 鈥 鈥 Ms. Rubio said, her voice breaking through tears. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let this happen to anybody else,鈥 a New York Times article reads.
And yet, what the Rubios and the other families got from the Lt Governor was this:
“Evil will always walk among us. And in times like this, I’ve seen it. It’s God that brings a community together. It’s God that heals a community. It’s God that heals a shattered and broken heart. And if we don’t turn back as a nation to understanding what we were founded upon, what we were taught by our parents, and what we believe in, then these situations will only get worse,” Patrick said.
What鈥 does鈥 that鈥 mean? Do you think there have ever been prayers as desperate, as intense, and as brutally sincere as the prayers that were said by those parents on Tuesday?
And yet God has not brought any of those children back to life.
That鈥檚 not how it works. God works through human beings 鈥 at least that鈥檚 what my religious tradition teaches. And those families that Lt Governor Patrick wants to 鈥減ut first鈥 are begging the human beings in the Texas legislature to do something.
So how about this: since the politicians seem to be stuck on this issue, suppose Texas asks the families what they think ought to be done.
I can鈥檛 predict what they might demand.
Being that it鈥檚 Texas 鈥 maybe a law that anyone can sue whoever puts a gun into the hands of someone who uses it to kill children.
And once the families agree on what to do, they tell the legislature: this law is how GOD wants us to fight this evil you keep talking about, and it鈥檚 time for you to vote.
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