By Bill Mefford
Last week Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas will no longer resettle refugees. Even as mass shootings continue in Texas and around the United States, and even as mass migrations – many of them caused by violence and governmental persecution – continue across the world, Governor Abbott has made it clear to the nation and the world that in his and trump’s world, guns are good and refugees are bad.
Though historically, international support for providing refuge for people fleeing their countries due to persecution and violence has been nonpolitical in nature. This means that though the causes of violence or persecution in a country might be cause for political debate in the United Nations, welcoming the victims of that country’s violence was not a cause for debate. It was a reason for compassionate action.
Welcoming refugees also used to make sense to countries. While the moral argument of welcoming people fleeing violence and persecution should be enough for a supposedly “pro-life” governor like Abbott, refugees (as well as other migrants too) are major contributors to the economy. According to a 2015 study by New American Economy, refugees in Texas alone contributed $1.6 billion in taxes and had a combined spending power of $4.6 billion. But reason and especially compassion mean nothing to men like Abbott and trump. trump’s Executive Order from September of 2019 allowed states and local municipalities to decide whether or not they wanted to resettle refugees. It allows cowards like Abbott to ignore any and all semblance of logic or compassion and to hide behind his racism and xenophobia.
And you know what else happened in September? On September 1 eight new gun laws went into effect in Texas. Even though Texas had just seen a gruesome mass shooting in Midland and Odessa, logic and compassion are absent in Texas’ political leadership. So, here is a list of new laws that have taken effect on September 1 – the same month trump gave cowards like Abbott the perfect excuse to ignore basic common sense:
Senate Bill 535 allows Texans to carry guns in churches, synagogues and other places of worship, unless otherwise banned by those places with proper signage.
Senate Bill 741 prohibits property owners’ associations from banning storage of guns on rental properties.
House Bill 121 provides a legal defense for licensed handgun owners who unknowingly enter an establishment that bans firearms as long as they leave when asked.
House Bill 302 prohibits landlords from banning renters and their guests from carrying firearms in lease agreements.
House Bill 1387 loosens restrictions on the number of school marshals who can carry guns at public and private schools in Texas.
House Bill 1177 allows Texans to carry handguns without a license during a state of disaster.
House Bill 1143 prohibits school districts from banning licensed gun owners from storing guns and ammunition in their vehicles in parking lots.
House Bill 2363 allows certain foster homes to store guns and ammunition in a locked location.
Read this list again. It is unbelievable. Texas wants unlimited access to guns literally everywhere: schools, houses of worship, school parking lots, foster homes, and even in disaster areas! Has a tornado destroyed your home? No problem, because now you can carry your gun around your ruined home!
Yes, Texas wants more guns and less refugees even though common sense says refugees will contribute to the economy and cultural richness of a state and guns will only contribute to the violence. No logic, no compassion. This is Texas under the “leadership” of Abbott and trump.